. . Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/underwriterfirmmOOunse FIRE AND MARINE rhe Men Who Take Risks HISTORICAL ANT) BlOORAPllICAL ILLUSTRATED Chicago THE FIDELITY PUBUSHING COMPANY 18 % Copyrigl^t, 1894, by THE FIDELITY PUBLISHING CO. FR EFACE. HI-, Publishers take pleasure in presenting this beautiful volume to their friends and patrons, for whom it was prepared. It 'will be found to be a valuable work, full of interesting and instructive historical and bio- graphical matter, treating of everything of worth in the world of Insur- ance. Every individual sketch was carefully typewritten and submitted to the subject for revision and correction, and, in most instances, was properly returned for a per- manent place in this volume. If mistakes are found in tile few sketches that were not returned, the fault lies with the subject for whom the sketch was prepared. The historical part of the work was prepared with great care by a competent editor and will be found to be replete with interest to any reader. It is with pride that the Publishers call attention to the engravings and to the superb mechanical execution of the volume. Notwithstanding the prevailing hard times, and a loss of patronage necessarily arising therefrom, the Publishers have exceeded the promises of the prospectus and of the agents. They are Satisfied that the work will bear the closest scrutiny and sustain their well-known reputation for fidelity and accuracy. The Publishers. 1 ORIGINS OF FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE. I NSURANCE, in the modern meaning of the term, is entirely a development of modern civilization, and its history, therefore, cannot antedate that of such civilization. The origins of insurance must, of course, be sought for at a period much earlier. As now constituted, the system and machinery of insurance, simple enough in their prin- ciples, are highly comjdex and j)ossible only under the new sociological conditions which have grown up since the close of the old feudal ages and with equal step with the progress of mankind in the exact sciences. In this introduction it will be attempted, however briefly, to trace the remote and obscure origin of insurance and to sketch out the enormous and rapid growth of the system as now applied to all conceivable forms of risk or loss. In this examina- tion it will become manifest that the modern bases upon which the successful develop- ment of insurance is founded are to be found in the intensely modern acknowledgment of the mutual interdependence of men. In olden times there were but two classes really; the rich and ]')owerful, which for the most part was made up of the nobles, and a little later of a certain class of ca]htalists, as will be seen further on; and of the individuals subservient to these. In this latter class must be considered the individual adventurers in many lines of business, for these were each and all in strong rivalry with each other and looked for protection in every case to one or more members of the former class. The definition and scope of insurance as it to-day exists will more clearly reveal the truth of this statement. Insurance may first be dehned as that system by which it is calculated to protect the individual against losses to which he may be liable through certain risks or accidents to which his propertv’ is, in the nature of things, exposed. As such loss must in all cases be measured in money, any money loss resulting from risk or accident is projrerly subject to be covered by insurance. This crude definition of insurance has been understood and admitted from the veiy earliest times and it is therefore not surprising to find almost all histories of insurance l>egin- ning with the statement that it is almost as old as civilization or commerce. In the restricted sense of the definition just given this statement may be admitted as accurate. Hut there is a further qualihcation necessary. The insurance or protection against loss in any given class of risks should be distributed among all of those persons liable to such risk and all others should be exempt from liability to pay such losses. It is plain, therefore, that, with this addition to the definition of insurance, the cooperation of large numbers of individuals, either engaged in a common business or subject to the common risk, forms the vital princijde which gives life and success to the whole system. Such co(")peration could not and did not exist under the old feudal system. With the growth of modern insurance the conditions necessaiy to gi^•e success have been scientifically investigated and tabulated. Among the most important of these are the following: There must be an actual risk of real loss. It must be beyond the power either of the insured or of the insurer to hasten or to avert such loss. The number of persons liable to a given risk must be large. The culmination of the risk must fall upon a comparatively small number of such persons. The probability of such culmination must be possible of previous calculation to a close agreement with the actual results. The expected loss must be sufhciently large to be worth while guarding against should it occur; and, finally, the expense of such provision against such possible loss must be comparatively small. It will be instantly seen that certain of these conditions are in their very nature speculative, and until the laws of chance and of probabilities had been investigated and formulated each individual case of insurance rested almost exactly upon the grounds of an ordinary wager. Bearing this in mind, it is easy to see where the mistake has arisen of attributing great antiquity to the system of insurance. The theory indeed may have been, and doul)tlefes was, more or less correctly known, even in very ancient times, but, until modern knowledge had supplied all of the required conditions, the theory could never be reduced to jwactice. Thus it may be admitted that Demosthenes in one of his famous speeches showed he understood the laws which should govern marine insurance. That speech was delivered a thousand years before the Christian era. On the authority of Dr. John A. Fowler, it is stated that there were govern- mental provisions against losses by accidents independent of marine risks previous to and at the time of the Caesars. This statement, however, is subject to discussion at least. It is largely based upon a passage found in Suetonius, in which he says that the Emperor Claudius Caesar, at a time when a famine was apprehended, in order to encourage commerce, assumed the payment of all losses that might arise from storms. Properly considered, this wms not in any sense insurance. It was merely the exercise of a paternal protection voluntarily assumed and subject to no other law than the good will of the monarch. While direct proof is lacking, there is a greater possibility that some practical systems of insurance did exist among the Hebrews. At the same time it must not be forgotten that the Jews lived under a system practically amounting to a community of interests, in which interests, of course, losses had to be considered and jirovided for as well as profits. It would be as unfair to claim that actual insurance existed among them as it would be to quote their system of extinguishing debts at certain periods as a proof of the claim. d'he excavations among the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh have brought to light vast numbers of clay tablets and cylinders covered with inscriptions in cuneiform char- acters. These tablets were the documents of those days and thousands of them have been translated. From these translations it has been learned that 2,500 years ago there was a system of compensation for loss from fire existing in Assyria and the Fast. Considered as compensation for a loss from a prol)able risk and under the first defini- tion of insurance, this system might be called insurance. In every town and district the judges, priests and magistrates were emjiowered, if satisfied that the fire was accidental, to assess all members of their district for such an amount as would make up the loss incurrc'd. This system of communes is said to still exist in a modified form in China, and in certain towns in Russia citizens are now held jointly liable for losses from accidental fires and the Government enforces contribution from all, arbi- F r R E A X I ) M A R I N E. t trarily fixing the individual contribution according to the wealth or position of each property holder. From the clay tablets spoken of it has been found that the collection of contributions to pay such losses was often assumed by the bankers of those times, and there exists a most curious tal)let which shows that one of these firms had existed continuously for full 600 years and the document is, oddly enough, dated from “The Great Fire of Babylon.” Coming down to more modern times, it is not surprising to find attempts at insurance against loss first among marine risks. The sea was a vast and terrible mystery, stretching away to unknown and awful distances, bounded by frightful walls of darkness or of fiame, studded with islands inhabited by frightful monsters, itself the home of demons and malevolent beings, anxious to destroy the intruder upon their domain. These were the unknown perils. But there were the known dangers of storms, of pirates, of hostile nations, of drowning, of hidden reefs, of fire, and of utterly losing one’s way amid its trackless wastes. The value of the ship and of the cargo which it carried was always very considerable and no one better than those old mariners knew that it was in every case of a prolonged voyage a gamble whether such voyage would ever successfully be made. W’hatever may be said of insurance, there is no cjuestion but that the gambling spirit has always existed among men and it would indeed be strange if, for the payment of a given sum of money, there had not been found individuals who were willing to agree, should the vessel be lost, that they would repay its value. Kightly considered, such a transaction was a bet, pure and simple, in which the gambler used his own experience as to the jirobability of loss in making the conditions of his bet. This being so, it is not strange that traces should have come down to us of transactions resembling in their effects those of actual insurance. The next step in development was naturally the making of such bets a business. 'I'liis at once elevated it to the rank of a speculation, and it is fairly certain that such business was regularly done at a comparatively early date l)y individuals. The earliest positive historical information on the subject is found in the works of the Florentine historian, Villani, who died at a very advanced age in the year 1348. He relates that when the Jews were expelled, in 1182, from France Ijy Phillip Agustus they adopted some system of insurance of their property. He does not give his authority for this statement, but it is evident that at the time he was writing insurance must have been in existence and well known in Italy. It will be fair to assume, therefore, that in that country, toward the close of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century, insurance was either invented or re-discovered. At that time the whole banking business and oversea trade of Pmrope was in the hands of the Lombards, Jews. It is a matter of history that the English endeavored to exclude them from the carrying trade and were unable to do so. In this connection it is significant that the earliest known English policy, to be hereafter cjuoted, mentions the “best and most suerest pollacie or writinge of assurance heretofor vsed to be made in Lumbard streete.” Malyne, in 1622, says that there was a similar clause in the Antwerp policies. It may then be fairly concluded that among the Lombards there were individuals who were willing, for a stated sum, to assume losses from marine risks. While the results to the insured were precisely similar to those of to-day, yet, except in occasional instances, the individual insurer or underwriter was not directly interested in the risk but voluntarily took it upon himself as a speculative and profitable trans- 8 THE UNDERWRITER. action. This element of personal profit to the insurer being the only motive which actuated him removes his transactions to a great distance from pure insurance. It is not until i6oi that government is found assuming to regulate the system and from that time should the history of insurance projierly be dated. In that year, under Oueen Elizabeth, an act of Parliament was passed (43 Elizabeth, c. 12), the jHU'pose of which was the institution of a Court of Policies of Insurance, to consist of an Admiralty Judge, the Recorder of Eondon, two doctors of civil law, two common lawyers and eight merchants, any five of whom were authorized to hear and decide all cases which might arise in London. This restriction, and the fact that after the Court had given its decision such decision might be disregarded and the whole case reopened in the Courts of Common Law, caused it to fall into disrepute and be but little used. Nevertheless it was in existence until 1720, at which time arbitration by private agreements had completely taken its place. The act begins by stating that which it has just been seen is not historically true. It says that marine insurance has existed time out of mind, “by means whereof it cometh to pass that upon the loss or perishing of any ship there followeth not the undoing of any man, but the loss lighteth rather easily upon many than heavy upon few and rather upon them that adventure not than upon those who do adventure; whereby all merchants, especially those of the younger sort, are allured to venture more willingly and more freely.” This act must Ije considered as the earliest legislation referring to insurance, even though it be acknowledged that an act was passed in 1427 by James I. of Scotland entitled, “The Leave to merchants to sure their gudes.” This act arranged for inspection of buildings and material and provided restrictions against hay and similar inflammable materials. It decreed that no fire or light could be carried from one house to another, exce}it in covered lantern or vessel, under pain of outlaw. It is evident that this act was intended rather as a preventive against fires than as a measure providing for losses from that risk. Nevertheless, it is often referred to as the earliest known fire legislation. During all of this j-jeriod, the Codes are strangely silent on the subject of marine insurance. This silence does not necessaril}’ imjdy that insurance was unknown, and indeed the mere fact of their existence is an argument in favor of the adoption of individual underwriting as a regular business, because it is certain that such persons, controlling, as the Lombards are known to have done, the oversea trade, would naturally demand protective legislation against every risk which might thus be lessened. Mention of these Codes cannot, therefore, be omitted in any history of insurance. The earliest of them dates back to about the year looo and is known as the Couso/ato del Mare, Barcelona, Spain. Next in chronological order is the Code known as the Lazvs oj Oleron, issued in i 1 94 I>y Richard I. of England. The earliest MS. of this Code known is dated 1266. b'ollow the Lazes of IJ'/sfy, compiled about the end of the 13th century, and the Ifanseatic Lazos, Lubeck, 1593 to 1597. All of these Codes are purely navigation laws and do not sj)eak of insurance, but, inasmuch as insurance is seen to have been a matte of private enterprise only, it is not surprising that government records and these Codes are alike silent on the subject, and nearly the same thing, with exception, perhajis, of the latest, may be said of the following, the Oi'dhiazices oj Barcelona, issued in 1434, 1458. i.L)i and 14*84. k'ollowing these are found the Ordinances oJ Llorence, 1523: the Ordi nances of Bnro'os, 1538: the Ordinances of Bilbao, 1560: Lc Guidon dc la Mer, Rouen, compiled between 1556 and 1584, and ])ublished in 1671 by Cleirac; the Ordinance of Middelburo-, 1600: the Ordinances of Rotterdam, 1604, 1635 '^^ 55 ' I s et Continnes de FIRE AND ^lARINE. 9 la Mcr, Rouen, by Cleirac, 1656. These were all followed and ]:>ractically summarized in the magnificent Ordounancc dc la Marine, 1681. d'his superb Code was compiled under the direction of Colbert in the reign of Louis XIV. of France and is now the basis of English maritime law. It is j)athetic to note that the name of the author of this magnificent work has been forgotten and utterly lost. Insurance itself furnishes no document earlier - than 1547. This document is a policy of insurance issued September 20 of that year on the vessel the Santa Maria de Venetia on its voyage from Cadiz to London. It is written in Italian. It may be said here that the term underwriters, now so familiar, took it origin from these individual insurers, who began their contracts: “We, the underwriters, etc.,” and the word policy is derived from the Italian “polliza, ” which means a promise. This in itself indicates an Italian origin of insurance. In the records of the Admiralty Court there is said to exist an English policy of insurance issued Dec. 6, 1557, in London, and covering the hull and cargo of the ship Ele from \'elis Maligo to Antwerp. But the first English policy of which accurate information is to be had is one issued in 1613. The original document is lost, but a coj)y of it was taken for some purpose, and, although this copy does not give the amount of insurance, it does give the form of policy, which, strangely enough, has not varied essentially since that time. The document referred to is the Tanner MS. No. 74, fo. 32, Bodleian Library, Oxford. This policy begins in the following language: In the name of God. Amen, lie it knovvne vnto all men by these presents that Morris Abbott and Devereu.x Wogan of l.ondon Merchants, doe make assurance and cause themselves and euerye of them to be assured Lost or not Lost from London to Zante Petrasse & Saphalonia or any of them upon woollen and Lynnen cloth Leade Kersies Iron A any other goods and merchandize heretofore Laden aboard the good Shipp called llie Tiger of l.oiulon of the burthen of 200 touns or thereabouts whereof is master vnder god in this present voyadge Thomas Crowder, The risks to be provided against are thus described: Touching the Adventures lV perills which wee the assurers hereafter named are contented to beare, and doe faithfully promisse by these presents to take uppon u.s in this present voyadge are of the Seas, men of warr, fyer, enemyes pirratts rovers iheeues, jettezons, Lettres of Marie & countermarte arests restraints, & detevnments of Kings & princes and all other persons barrtary of the master A mariners, & of all other perills Losses A misfortunes whatsoeuer they be It is a curious thing that this ship, the Tiger, should have been otherwise made famous and immortal. Shakespeare refers to it twice; in Macbeth Act. I., Sc. III. is found. “Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger.’’ Again in Twelfth Night, Act. \h. Sc. I., he writes: “And this is he that did the Tiger board.’’ Hakluyt, that quaint old chronicler of travels, in his Wyages refers to this ship as making a journey to Tripolis in 1583. Sir Kenelm Uigby, in his Journal of 1628, also speaks of the same vessel. He s}ieaks of “the Tyger of London going for Scanderone. ’ It will be noticed that among the perils provided against in this policy is found that of fire. It would not need a very great extension of the principle to extend similar protection to property on land which should be subject to this same risk. It would indeed have been strange had it not been so. And thus as a natural development of marine insurance, even in the form of individual underwriting, came fire insurance. It is generally said that fire insurance owes its origin to the great fire of London in 1666, but this, like many other generally accepted statements in the history of 10 THE UNDERWRITER. insurance, is not accurate. It is based upon a too hasty survey of some facts and an ignorance or misapprehension of others. While it is true that nearly all of the ancient civilizations were found upon the shores of the sea, and that, therefore, marine interests should have among them assumed first importance, nevertheless, there were powerful aggregations of men inland. Among these might naturally be sought the first traces of fire insurance. And since it has been found that toward the close of the 12th century the principal of insurance had been rediscovered or invented in Italy by the Lombards, it is at a date soon after this period that such traces might be expected to be found among the inland nations. Such active traders as the Lombards could not have neglected to have established commercial relations with these peoples. In consecjuence thereof, these last would learn something of their various business methods and would make such apjdication of them as fitted their national or local traditions and customs. The ground was ready and prepared for some such system, for it is found that among the Anglo-Saxon guilds the members were recjuired, among their other duties, to make certain fixed regular payments into a common fund, which fund was intended to secure each member against losses arising from “fire, water, rolibery, or other calamities.” Inasmuch as it is known that guilds, or associations closely resembling these, were in existence among the Greeks and Romans, it is not impossible that similar provisions may have existed among them also. But this is purely conjectural. The first results of the influence of the Lombards may perhaps be found in the year 1240 in Flanders. In that year Thomas and Johanna, Count and Countess of that country, promulgated a set of laws known as the Cora or Keure. Article XI of this Cora provided that: “In whatever house a fire shall have been secretely made, the whole place instantly makes good the damage through those whom the guardians select.” In 1609 a jnoposition was made to Count Anthony Gunther von Oldenburg which practically jn'ovided lor an actual system of fire insurance. The proposer of this plan said that “as many fires happen by which a great number of people lost their property, the Count might lay before his suljjects the danger of such accidents and propose to them that if they would, either singly or united, put a value on their houses and for every one hundred dollars valuation pay to him yearly one dollar, he on the other hand would engage that in case by the will of God their houses should be reduced to ashes, the misfortunes of war exce}Aed, he would take upon himself the loss and pay to the sufferers as much money as might be sufficient to rel)uild them.” The Count carefully examined the scheme and concluded that a com[)any composed of common individuals might indeed be successfully formed to insure each other’s houses and pay the losses sustained by fire. But he was afraid to do this himself lest avaricious motives might be imputed to him and, still more imjiortant in his eyes, lest it might seem a tem]')ting of Ifi-ovidence. He said: “God has ^vithout such means reserved and blessed for many centuries the ancient house of Oldenburg and He will still be present with me through His mercy and protect my subjects from destructive fires.” This idea that insurance is a tempting of f-rovidence cropped up more than once afterward, notaldy in the case of William Penn, and indeed it is still a powerful obstacle, particularly to life insurance, among large numbers of individuals of these intensely modern and jiractical times. In ifj.UT at a “W’ardmote Incpicst" held in London, the imjiortance of providing some method or ajipliances to avoid the peril of fire was a matter of special discussion. 'Pwo years later a petition was juesented to C'haiies I. of hingland asking that authority be granted the }')ctitioner “to ensure all your majest}’s sul)jects whomsoever for soe 1-1 RE A XI) .MARINE. 11 much of their estates combustible as they themselves shall conceive in danger of Fire, not taking above 12 d. ])er centum yearly for soe much soe insured.” Strange to say, although the original is still preserved in the Record Office, the name of the petitioner does not ajipear, but three years later a closely similar }ietition was presented to the same monarch by one William Ryley and one Edward Mabb. This petition was referred to the Attorney (ieneral for his opinion thereon. This opinion was entirely favorable and October 16, 1638, the King granted these petitioners a patent for such a company to run for the term of forty-one years, and ordered the Attorney General to forthwith prepare a bill to that effect for the royal signature. The growing troubles l)etwcen the King and Parliament seem to have driven the matter out of his Majesty's head, for no further trace of this measure is found. The }’ear 16O0 saw the Restoration which placed Charles II. on the throne. One of the first petitions brought to him was one for a plan of fire insurance. The king commended the project but the council rejected it, on the ground that it was unreasonable for la'ivate persons to maruge such an undertaking or that anyone but the city should reaj') the ju'ofits of the enterprise*. Six years later, in 16(A), occurred the Great h'ire of London, undoubtedly the most important date in the history of fire insurance. Hefore proceeding to the further historical events in insurance history, it will be well to glance for a moment at the new sociological conditions j)revailing at that time. In 1645 Long Parliament had practicall\- abrogated all chivalric tenures and this action received legislati\e sanction in i()5() (12 Charles IP. c. 24). As a practical military system it had died and with it the feudal system also, practically. Therefore the individual and the so-called lower classes no longer looked up to the nobles alone for protection and recompense for loss. The association of themselves to effect these objects became not onl}- ])racticable. but plainlv visible and desirable. It needed only some such terrible catastrophe as that of the Great Fire to emphatically call to the attention of all men the necessity that existed for some such association for their mutual protection against such frightful evils. There is a great deal of indirect testimony to the fact that for man}' years preceding the Great h'ire, indi\idual underwriting against fire losses had existed on the continent of Europe. The }enr following the fire Dr. Barbon, who on verv good authority, is said to ha\’e been a direct descendant of Praise God Barebones, and who, at that time, was one of the first and most consideral)le builders of the citv of London, set up an office for the insuring of houses and buildings. The question of whether such individual underwriting was practiced in England before 1666 is a difficult one. Such a method of underwriting, being of a personal or private character, would leave but little or no evidence of its existence. It is iienerallv believed, however, that Dr. Barbon was the first of such underwriters. Passing by the propositions made by Delaune and the alleged but unproved state- ment that a mutual ffre insurance association was founded in Edinburgh in 1670, the most important events are to be found in the attempts of Mr. Deputv Xewbold to create a ffre insurance companv. His scheme was first brought to the attention of the city government in i()75. I'or five vears Mr. Xewbold ke])t presenting new and improved schemes to the C»)uncil, but without securing anv decision from it. In the meantime the number of indi\ idual underwriters had increased and Mr. Samuel \'incent. Dr. Xicholas Barbon. John Parsons, Eelix Calvert and others were re-constructing Dr. 12 THE UN DERW R J T E R. lUirbon’s business into what was known as The Fire Office. On April 2, 1680, there appeared in the Protestant { ftomcstick) Intcligcncc, of London, a paragraph proposing the formation of a joint stock company which should “forever assure the re-building of any the casualties happening by fire to any of the houses of the city of London.” It was thought that a stock of ^50,000 might Ire raised and “in all probabilities may be so im ployed that the improvements thereof may forever rebuild all such casualties as may happen by fire to those houses and buildings.” Next comes the best known historical document known in the history of fire insurance. It is in the form of an advertisement which appeared May 7, 1680, in the Tnic Protestant [Domestick] Intelligence. It is as follows: There is a new office to Ire kept at the backside of the Royal Exchange, London, and will be opened on Thursday next. I'liey do undertake for a very rersonable rate to secure the houses in London and the suburbs thereof from fire, and if burned down to build them again at the cost of the office, for which end is provided a considerable bank of money, and a fund of free land, to such a value as will secure those that agree with the office. There being now in print a particular thereof we need not give you any further account. Five days later, in the Mercnriiis Civiens. there appeared a proposal to insure houses from fire at “an office on Threadneedle Street.” The managers of the former office published the same year a long circular entitled “Arguments for Insuring Houses from Fire.” From this circular it is learned that for six pence per pound rent for brick houses and twehe pence for timber houses ^ico was to be paid out of the bank of the office for every /,'io that was insured, or else the house was to be rebuilt at the charge of the office. It is also learned that the bank was of /'40, 000, and this amount was considered amply sufficient for the insuring of 10,000 houses. There is a degree of quaintness in this paragraph: A man would part with 5 s. or los. in an P\oo only to sleep quietly for a year, and not to be disturb’d with dismal cry of FIRE, FIRE, when himself is not in danger to be burnt. Neither would a man for such a small sum if a loss should happen, be disquieted with the too late advice of friends, every one blaming, and asking why did he not insure t Or be tormented by his own thoughts with the 7vish I had insured. It is curious to note that the only known copy of this earliest of insurance circulars is not to be found in any of the great English libraries but is preserved in the State Library at Albany, New York. The following year Mr. Newbold’s proposals were seriously entertained, but the Committee to which his petition had Iteen referred recommended that instead of granting the asked-for powers to a corporation the Chamberlain of London “might undertake ye said design.” In the British Museum there is a broadside dated Sept. 16 of this year, entitled, an “Advertisement from the Insurance Office for Houses, etc.,” which apjrears to have been the title adopted l)y th.e “new office to be kept at the backside of the Koyal Exchange.” This compan}’ was composed of outsiders and was naturallv jealous of the attempt of the Cit}' to enter the field, under Mr. Newbold’s proposition, as com j)eti tors. The broadside just referred to was followed l)y another, the title of which clear!}' displays this spirit. It was entitled: “An Emphry whether it be the interests of the Citv to Insure houses from Fire; and what Advantage the Insured mav expect more than from the Insurance Office already setled.” The City Corporation, however, proceeded to deveUq) the Newbold scheme, and, during the winter of 1681, opened a book of subscriptions for insuring of houses (by the City of London) in case of fire, b'or more than one year a bitter fight was carried I ' 1 R E A X 1 ) M A R I X E. 18 on between these rival companies, but the private corporation ultimately won, and, a little more than a year after the city government had resolved “to undertake ye Insuring of all Houses within the City and Libertyes, ” it determined to give up the ))lan and instructed the Chamberlain to repay all money which had been advanced and then to cancel the policies! Notwithstanding this, new ])olicies were issued for six months more and the city did not go out of the business until mandamus proceedings were brought in the Court of King’s Ifench. It was charged at the time that the corporation was unable to repay the money deposited with them and the argument advanced, “how can it be expected that the insured shall have better justice when a great loss by lire happens than those persons who have held the City’s bonds have had ? ” The final act, however, of the connection of the Corporation of London with Fire Insurance was deferred until 1696, when Mr. Newbold presented a petition for remun- eration for the time, trouble and expense he had l)een at. This petition was referred to a committe which, 14 years after the resolution to discontinue had been passed, made a report, which was adopted; by which it was “resolved to give him the benehtt of making two persons free of this Citie l>y redemp. con. paying to Mr. Chamberl. in to the citie’s use of fortie-six shillings eightpence a-]hece, the said persons to be the first presented and allowed of by this Court.” There was now only the original insurance office which had its office at the back of the Koyal lixchange. It placed a badge upon houses insured by it, which badge rejiresented a ph(enix amid flames, and from this the office came to be known as the Fhmnix Office, still later it was called The Old Phcenix. Its office was moved from the Royal Exchange to the “Rainbow in Fleet Street.” In 1683 and ’84 the I'riendly Society was started and at once the Phoenix began to make war ujxm the new company and this rivalry was fiercely carried on until 1686, when the Phcenix ap|)lied to the Lords of the Privy Council for the exclusive privilege of “making and registering all assurances, policies and contracts of houses from hre, for 31 years.” After much discussion the King granted the petition in part, ju'ohibiting the undertakers for the I'riendly Society and all others from insuring any houses for one year after the date of the Letters Patent. It was further decreed that at the expiration of one year the I'riendly Society might also insure houses in the following extraordinary manner: “for the sjxace of three moneths, and then to desist for the next three moneths, and then to begin again for three moneths more, soe as to juit a stop from time to time to the said method of insuring of the said Friendly Society every other three moneths.” • In 1694 the first tax was levied upon fire insurance in the shape of a stamp duty of sixpence on every policy of insurance. Th s duty was imposed for four vears only but was afterward continued. It was made perj^etual under George I. and repealed under George III. The second great date in the histoiy of Fire Insurance is 1696. During that year not only did the City ol London finally j')erform its last official act in regard to its “Design and Undertaking for the Insuring of Houses from the Evil of Fire, ’ but a new and eminently successful company was projected. Proposals were made by the AniicLxblc Contributors Jor Insurance from Loss by Fire “at Tom’s Coffee House, in St. Martin’s Lane, near Charing Cross, where attendance is daily given.” This Association adojAed as its badge and trademark, and printed upon all of its stationery, the device u THE UNDERWRITER. of two clas})ed hands, from which it took its name of the Hand-in-I land, by which name it is still known, as it is still a flourishing company, the only survivor of those founded during this period. All of these companies and others that were founded during the closing years of the century confined themselves to insuring houses alone, and these in the city of London only. No attempt was made to insure the contents of buildings and all risks were divided into but two classes: brick buildings and timber buildings. Ijuildings, the party walls of which were not of brick or stone, whatever the material of the walls might be, were classed as timber buildings. In 1704 there was founded the Lombard House for insuring, among other things, household goods and trading stock from fire. This was the first office which undertook the insurance of household furniture and to it also is due the honor of having instituted a salvage corps. The third great date in the history of fire insurance is usually given as 1710, but to properly understand its importance it is necessary to go back to 1706, in which year Mr. Charles Povey started the Exchange House Fire Office in Hatton Garden. Although the advertisements refer to governors and directors, it was an individual enterprise of his own. During successive years he published a sort of insurance newspaper. In the year 1710 the Company of London Insurers, which had started the previous year, purchased all of Povey ’s rights and interests in the Exchange House Insurance Office and became a society with the name of “The Sun Fire Office for Insuring Houses, Goods, Wares and Merchandizes, from Loss and Damage by Fire.” This company proposed to insure in any place within Great Britain outside of London. T'his company is also a flourishing existing office. Fire insurance is for the hrst time exjiressly recognized in legislation in a statute (10 Anne, c. 26), passed for the purpose of “laying additional Duties on Hides and Skins, Vellum and Parchment, and new Duties on Starch, Coffee, Tea, Drugs, Gilt and Silver Wire, and Policies of Insurance to secure a vearly fund for satisfaction of orders to the contributors of a further sum of Ti-f'oo.ooo toward II. i\I. Supply; and for the better securing the duties on candies and concerning cake sope: .... and concerning ]>rize Cocoa nuts brought from America, etc., etc.” Section 68 of this Act declares and enacts “that all deeds, instruments and writings for the payment of any sum of money upon the loss of any ship or goods, or upon any loss by hre .... shall be deemed a policy of assurance within this act.” The stamp duty thus imposed was 3s. yd. In 1720 began what may be termed the speculative period in the history of ffre insurance. The South Sea Hubble was about to burst. For several years preceding there had been numerous projects relating to annuities, life and marine insurance, and fire insurance could not escape these promoters. The first of these companies, known as Overall's Insurance Comj'tan}', asked subscriptions for one million pounds sterling. This company got into trouble with Parliament, made a venture in South Sea Stock, buying at /,'6oo and selling at /j8oo. The company then disappeared, having undoubtedly been swallowed up in the crash that followed. A large number of similar companies were started about the same time, none of which called for a less capital stock than a million i)ounds sterling and many of them two millions. Finally a scheme of fire insurance combined with building operations was advertised. The subscription was to be for three million pounds. T'he company was to build or rebuild houses or other FIRE AN D M A R I N E. 15 edifices, on new or old foundations, in any part of England, and to insure houses and goods in any part of the kingdom from loss or damage from fire. “And to prevent mean people from being concerned in this beneficial undertaking, every person that is admitted must pay los. per share for permits of ^i,ooo each which will be delivered out this morning at 9 o’clock at the (dobe Tavern in Stocks Market,” continued the advertisement. ' This scheme of permits marked the height of the speculative mania. The scheme never succeeded, the folly being too evident. But meantime the force of speculation had spread to Scotland and to Ireland. In 1724, from a single line in a magazine, it appears that there was a fire insurance agency office m Boston, Mass., but nothing further is known of it. The history of fire insurance now progresses rapidly, but, in the brief space of this introduction, it will be impossible to give as close details as in these earlier years, therefore only a few significant events and dates will be given. The first reported case on a fire insurance policy in the English Courts was that of Lynch vs. Dalzel, manager of the Sun Eire Insurance Company, in 1729. In this case it was*decided by the House of Lords, “that the person insured must own the property at the time of the loss or the company would not be liable to pay.” The first fire insurance company in Germany, of which any knowledge is obtainable, was founded at Hanover in 1750. The first insurance company in the United States was founded two years later, in 1752, but, as this opens u)') the interesting subject of fire insurance in the United States, it will l)e well to go back a little and examine into its origin there. It is' not surprising to find that the first attempt at establishing an insurance company in America should have been in Philadelphia nor that it should have been in the line of marine insurance. In the Penn and Logan correspondence there is much interesting matter referring to insurance. Penn had religious scruples about insurance, but also seems to have been dul)ious as to the credit of the underwriters. In a letter, dated Eebruary 16. 1705, he wrote to Logan; “J. Askew ensured ^100 upon thy lettert but the ensurer broke, and the 20 guineas lost. This done upon the former intimations. Lnsurers fail much.” In 1721 John Copson opened an office of Public Insurance on vessels, goods and merchandise. Lour years later Mr. S. Keimer published in Philadelphia the first book in America which makes any reference to insurance. This book is of special interest inasmuch as it not only was printed by Benjamin Pranklin, but was the first book printed by him. Nearly thirty years passed before a rggular insurance company was founded. It is known, however, that during these years individual underwriting not only existed, but was a flourishing business. In 1752 steps were taken toward founding a regular office of fire insurance. It was entitled The Ph.iladelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Lire. Benjamin Pranklin was a moving spirit in this enterprise. He succeeded in identifying lightning and electricity in June, 1752, and it is known that he immediately made the practical application of his discovery toward the protection of houses and property. Thrift was one of Lranklin’s great characteristics, and it is not strange, therefore, that he should have turned his mind toward the protection of property, and particularly houses, from losses by a closely similar danger, i. e., that of fire. The book just referred to as his first work was written by Lrancis Kawle and was entitled, “W’ays and iMeans for the Inhabitants of Delaware to become Rich,” and Mr. Rawle distinctly classes insurance as a branch of business which would be not onlv 1C) r 11 K LT N 1) E R W R IT E R. heljTul to the mariner, but would promote commerce and agriculture as well. There is every reason to believe also that Franklin was thoroughly posted in the history of insurance jn'ojects in Great Britain. The Mon. John Smith, to whom indeed must be given the honor of having been the practical originator of the company, and Mr. Joseph Saunders, who had l)een engaged for some years as an individual underwriter for both shipping and houses, were intimate friends of his. The Philadelphia Contributionship was modeled almost precisely after the plan of the Amicable Contributionship (Hand- in-IIand) of England. Indeed its name, deed of settlement, and its seal and badge, four hands clasped, were all copied from its English prototyj')e. Under the name of the I land-in-Mand it did a flourishing l)usiness which still continues. Philadelphia at that time was the great commercial city of the Continent, and it is not until 1770 that any attempt was made in New York to found a fire insurance company there. In that year, at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, the following resolution was introduced, April 3, by Mr. John Thurman: “As it is the desire of a number of the inhabitants of this city to have their estates insured from loss by fire, and that losses of this sort may not fall upon individuals, proposed that the Chamber take into consideration some plan that may serve so good a purpose under the direction of this Corporation.” Erom the records of the Chamber, under date May 2, it is noted that Mr. Thurman’s proposal is referred to a future meeting. It is again postponed at the meeting of the following month and then seems to have been either dropped or forgotten, for nothing further is heard of such plans during the Colonial period. Erom this date onward, it is almost impossible to trace the history of insurance in any one country alone as important improvements and modihcations were occurring at widely separated jdaces. Thus in 1779 must be noted the establishment of the first proprietary fire insurance company in Germany. It was known as the Funftc Assccuranz Compagnic and existed until 1842, when it was ruined by the great fire in Hamburg, wdiere it had its office. In 1780, of the twenty-one fire insurance companies which had been founded in England, beginning w'ith Dr. Barbon’s office in 1667 and ending with the Eiverpool, 1777, there existed only nine, w'hich, in order of their foundation, were as follows; Iland-in-Hand, 1696; Sun, 1710: Union, 1714; Westminster, 1717: British and Irish, 1720: Eriendly of Edinburgh, 1720; London Assurance Corporation, 1721; Royal Ifxchange, 1721, and Liverpool, 1777. These companies may l)e said to represent the first series and those thereafter formed incorporated so many new ideas and improvements as to constitute an entirely new departure. During this year the sugar refiners of London applied for a royal charter for the incorporation of an Insurance Office to meet their special reciuirements. The Attorney General refused to recommend the granting of such a charter on the ground that he considered “The puldic as likely to be better served by voluntary associations of respectal)le individuals than by incorporated societies.” A direct result of this wms the founding in the following year of The New Insurance Company, later known as Phcenix No. 2. In 1780 also was founded the first provincial office in Ifngland, the Salo}y still in existence. The year 1782 marks a very important ejioch in the history of fire insurance. In that year a percentage duty was first imjiosed upon the sum insured. This tax, at first only IS. 6d., was progressively increased to 1816, in which year it was fixed at 3s. for each /,ioo insured, and it continued at that rate for nearly fifty years. This tax was collected by the various offices as an addition to the premiums and was by them turned I< 1 R E AXM) MARINE. 17 over to the treasury. In i(S03 this tax, which was always bitterly fought as tending to discourage j)rudence and as being out of all proportion to the cost of the insurance to which it was added, amounted to the enormous sum of ^1,714,622. This showing was so strong a })roof of the justice of the objectors to the tax that the rate was lowered in 1864. I)Ut it was not until 1869 that the whole tax was finally al)rogated. Returning to the i8th century, and to the American colonies, a new company is found sjn'inging up in IMiiladelphia. In all insurance companies, or nearly all, the extinguishing of fires was a j)art of the duty of the insuring comjiany. In 1783, the Contributionship had been called upon to ])ay a loss ipion a house, the shade trees about which impeded the extinguishing of the hre. The planting of such trees about houses was not onh^ authorized but fostered by law. The Contributionship, however, passed a by-law refusing to any longer insure houses surrounded by shade trees. In conseciLience of this, a number of the citizens of Philadelphia, nearly all of them lu'ominent members of the Contributionship, alter apj)ealing for the repeal of this l)V-law and signifying their willingness to pay an increased jiremium, and being refused, seceded and called for subscribers to a new comjxmy. I bis company was similar to the jiarent company but had this special clause in its deed ot settlement: “ Phat there be an Addition to the Deposite Money uj)on the Insurance of all Houses having 'Frees planted before them and also for 'Frees planted in thirds near the Houses; which Addition shall be determined by the 'Frustees, and be in proportion to the Ris(|ue suc'h Frees may occasion. All Frees planted near Houses shall l)e 'Frimmed every F'all, in such Manner as not to be higher than the Ffaves of the Houses. And 'Frees |)lanled after Insurance must be rejiorted to the Office, and the additional Dej^osite ]xiid within twelve Months after they are planted, or the Dejxrsite Money will be forfeited and the Insurance become \'oid." A curious result of this insurance clause has been to establish with great accuracy the date of the planting of certain trees. 'Fhe new comjxany adojited, as a badge to be placed upon the houses insured b)' it, a green tree, and from this the company l)ecame. and is still, popularh' known as the Green 'Free. 'Fhree years later a successful atteinj^t was made to establish a hre insurance association in New '\'ork. Fhe Mutual Fhre Insurance Conpiany of the Citv of New ^'ork was not incorporated until March 28, 1809, but was founded actually in 1787. It was the only insurance company in New ^’ork down to 1796. In 1846 it changed its title to that of the Knickerbocker F'ire Insurance Company. In the year 1791 a scheme of Universal 'Fontine was proposed in Poston “for the purpose of raising a fund upon lives to be ajiplied to the charitable and other uses." 'Fhis scheme did not succeed nor did a similar project started in New ^'ork. In 1792 the scheme was taken up in Philadeljihia and great efforts made to boat it. 'Fhese were also unsuccessful and in November of that year it was resolved to change the Universal 'Fontine into a general insurance company and the Insurance Company of North America was thereupon founded, embracing in its scope the three branches of Marine, F'ire and Life Insurance. Whth the last of the.se this historv has nothin^ to do. and it is chieHy with the first that it has to treat, as showing the struggles through which this kind of insurance has had to jxiss. During the last ten vears of the i8th century the F'rench government committed alarming depredations upon American shijiping interests, claiming that W'ashington's neutrality proclamation of 1793 was in violation of the treat}’ of 177 '^- Congress finally held the F'rench Government lilameless IS T H E U N D E R R I T E R. for tlie losses thus inRictecI, whereupon claims for indemnity were presented to Congress. Not until 1885 were these claims, amounting to many millions, hnally allowed. During the closing years of the century insurance comjianies multiplied rapidly, d'hirty charters were granted during this period, nearly all of them for marine and fire insurance. Of these there were 7 in Maryland. 6 in Massachusetts, 4 in New York, 4 in Pennsylvania, 4 in Connecticut, 2 in South Carolina, 2 in Rhode Island, i in New Ilampshire and 1 in Virginia. In the first decade of the present century double this number of new charters were granted, and as new States came into the Union the number of new companies increased until at the present moment they are numbered by hundreds. No other business interest of the country is so far-reaching in its benefactions or so important as a factor in the commercial and financial world to-day as that of insurance. The national banks of the United States, with their something less than three-cjuarters of a billion of cash capital, are overtojiped by the assets held by the life insurance comjianies alone and by the combined assets of hre, life, marine and casualty insurance in the proportion of more than two dollars to one. With the dawn of this century, however, this mere sketch of the history must be brought to a close as it would be impossible, in the narrow limits assigned for this introduction, to present even an index of subjects referring to the matter. The task is the less needful as these matters are distinctly modern growths and are well known to all insurance men. It would be making an invidious distinction to take any of the new or now existing companies to illustrate the course of this progress, and to mention them all would, of course, be impossible. There remains, therefore, but to briefly refer to some of the characteristic developments of Fire Insurance as it is carried on in the United States, d'he chiefest and most important of these, perhaps, is the agency system. d'he vast extent of the country made this necessary in the first place, and as the svstem became developed there developed at the same time other important advantages in addition to those first contemplated. The pivotal point of the system is the local agent. lie is intensely and minutely acquainted with every aspect of any contemplated risk, both moral and physical, and in case of dishonesty or incompetency the daily reports soon reveal the losses, and correction, by removal of the agent, is swiftly applied. The S}'Stem is at once an exceedingly complicated and yet a \'ery simple one, amounting to a multijdication of the original office in many points. The machinery required to guide and control such enormous business is correspondingly great and has led to the establishment of the jn'esent immense offices, employing scores of clerks and (experts. At one time Cincinnati was the general center for the insurance business of the Ibiited States, but it has since moved to Chicago. The interesting subjects of policies, of the attempts at combined action by all companies, of the National Hoard, of the State Insurance Departments and insurance legislation in general, and finally of the great conflagrations which have occurred and their effect upon the companies and the svstem can only l)e enumerated here. b'or many years, and even vet, it has been said that “b'ire Insurance is a mag- nificent svstem of guessing.” 'The epigram is losing its j^oint and I'ire Insurance, particularly as practiced in the United States, now ranks not only among the most accurate and scientific of the businesses conducted by men, but certainly as among the most beneficent, and is an acknowledged indispensalde factor in the continued well-being and future progress of the world. BIOGRAPHICAL AMERICAN COMPANIES TIII{ .F/rNA INSUKANCI^: COMPANY () 1 < HARTFOKI) 'I'he investment having the most ])oints of merit for the capitalist, the business or professional man, the manufacturer, the mechanic or laborer, the one which, everything considered, will give the largest and most satisfactory return, is hre insurance. The standing of all the hre companies of Hartford is admiralhe and they rank among the hrst in the country. The cFtna Insurance Company is the largest, not only of these, but of all in the United States. It stands there, with its more than eleven million of assets and its record of $77,3UPU^3 ‘dready j^aid out h^r losses, as the greatest hre company of America. I'or seventy-seven years the .Ftna of Hartford has been known to the public, not only as a guarantor, but a payer of indemnity for propertv loss. It was organized in 1819, its original officers being Thomas K. I 3 race, President, and Isaac Perkins, Secretaiy. The cajhtal at hrst was $150,000, but it has since grown to its present amount, $4,000,000, with a surplus considerabl}' over $3,500,000. For about two years, at hrst, the comjiany ccmhned its business to Hartford and vicinity, but soon adopted the }X)licy, in which it was the pioneer, of extending its operations to other parts of New hingland. Graduallv the agency system was extended and as early as 1834 an agent \vas appointed for Chicago. Two years later the company entered actively in competition for business in New ^'ork City. Previous to 1853 many agencies had been established at various Western points, while the Aliddle States and New England had been quite thoroughly covered. In 1857 President Brace died and was succeeded l)y Ivdwin C. Ripley, the capital at that time having been increased to a million. In 1866 the capital was still further increased to $3,000,000. Meantime, in 1862, President Ripley died and Thomas A. Alexander, Secretary, became his successor. He, too, died, and Lucius J. Hendee succeeded to the jn'esidency, having previously been Secretary. During the historic hre of Chicago. 1871, the company contemplated a greater loss than ever fell to any single companv. That loss exceeded its immense capital by almost a million dollars. The directors ])romptly met and decided to reduce the existing cajutal by $1,500,000, or one half, and the stcckholders as promptly contributed $1,500,000 to make good the reduction. The total sum paid, and paid promptl)’, too, by the T 3 tna, was $3,782,000. In the fall of 1872 came the great Boston hre and the capital of the .Ftna was again reduced l)y one million in cash. In 1881 the capital had increased to $4,000. 000, at which hgure it now stands, and so well has its ahairs l)een managed that for several years past a dividend of eighteen per cent on the capital has been annually declared. One characteristic of the company has l)een that changes in the executive officers have usually I)een made as death has removed the incumljent and then changes have been in the line of promotion. d'here have I)een but two changes in the presidenev since 1866, when President Hendee was elected. Ujion his death in 1888 Jotham (loodnow was advanced to that pt)sition and retained the same until 1892. when he, too, jiassed away. William B. Clark, who had been \'ice-President trom 1888, succeeded him, and Secretary Bavne liecame Vice-President; )ames b'. Dudlev’, then Assistant Secretarv', was elected to the Secretaryship, and on the death of C'aptain Baviie he was made \’ice-President. William 11 . King is Secretary and E. (). Weeks the Assistant Secretar\- at the jn'esent time. ■211 I h I f WILLIAM P>KAI)DOCK CLARK I’RKSIDKNT OF THE /ETNA IXSL'RAXCE COMPANY. Much of the success and stability and character of a company depends upon its officers, and in this respect The /Ltna Insurance Company has been greatly favored. Whlliam I). Clark, who is at present the executive officer of this ably managed institution, is an experienced, thorough and practical insurance man. He has secured success liy lionest work and he may witli fairness be singled out as a type of the men who have had the oversight of this company from the start. Mr.’ Clark was born in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, June 29, 1841, and in that city he has continued to reside ever since, with th’e exception of a year during boyhood, when he was away attending school. He is a son of A. N. Clark and bdnily I. Clark. His father was connected with the “Hartford Courant” (the oldest newspajier in the United States) for twent}' years or more and for many years was its proprietor and editor. William B. Clark received his scholastic training in the juiblic schools of Hartford, the High School dejiartment of the Normal School in New Britain, and finished at what was known in those days as “Gallup's College Green School," a private institution in llartford. His father needing his services, young Clark left school before completing his education and entered the office of the “Courant,” where he remained one year. He had intended returning to school, but an opportunity offered to enter the office of the Bhtt'nix Insurance Company of Hartford as accountant, and he commenced his duties there on the 19th of januar\', 1857. From that position he arose to that of conhdential clerk to the officers, and so able and efficient were his services that, on the promotion of Mr. 11 enrv Kellogg as President of the PhEKNETT (iENKRAI, A(;KXT OF I'lIK .-FTXA IXSL'RAXCF COMRAXV OF HARTFORD, COXX. Success in business carries with it the natural inference that the successful man possesses energy, intelligence and other attributes of men who have risen above their fellows. But energy and intelligence fail to make one shine forth in a social sphere, unless they are united to an exceptional personality. It is temperament that makes a man either liked or disliked. Mr. Frederick C. Bennett is hapjiy in this respect, for his hne and distinctive personality is what makes him what he is, and his friends are legion. The vast growth of the /Etna Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, is undoubtedly due to the executive ability of its officers and the fidelity, energy and perseverance of its agents. The general agents of the company have ever been true to its interests, and, among those who have taken an exceedingly active part in making the .Etna's glorious history, few can point to a record as successful and free from mistakes as that of Mr. Bennett, General Agent of the /Etna Insurance Company. Mr. Bennett is not a native of this country, but of England, his birth occurring at Elmham, Norfolk County, August 6, 1830. He was the youngest of eight children l)orn to Robert and Eleanor Bennett, also natives of the liritish Isles. In the year [832 the ]'>arents came to America and hrst settled at Cleveland, Ohio, where thev resided for two years, or until 1834, when they moved to Cincinnati. In that city the subject of this sketch has made his home for sixty-two years. He received a good practical education in the puldic schools of that city and sipiplemented the same by attending Woodward College for some time. Wh en starting out to earn a living after leaving school, his thoughts turned to the insurance Inisiness, and he had no idea of engaging in any other employment. This was in 1847 and he began as office boy in the Protection Insurance Companv’s office. \V. B). Rollins was at that time general agent. Later Mr. Bennett served as clerk and bookkeeper, and when twenty-one years old, or in 1851, he started out as traveling agent. He served this company ably and faithfully until /\ugust, 1854, when it failed, and in Se]itember of that year he engaged with the /EAna, under his brother, J. B. Ifennett, and continued as Special Agent and adjuster until b'ebruary, 1870, when he was appointed General Agent, a position he holds at the present time. Eor nearly half a century this worthy man has been interested in insurance matters and few are held jn higher esteem liy the members of his company, or have done more faithful work than he. Mr. Bennett is an Episcopalian in his religious views and was brought up in the Church of Ifngland. In jiolitics he has always advocated the principles and policy of the Republican jiarty and is strongly for sound mone\'. He selected his wife in the person of Miss Mary E. Mitchell and their nuptials were celebrated in the month of October, 1858. d'hey are the parents of three children, all living. c;k{)K(',k p>()ai>ji)man ASSOCIATK CKXERAI, A(;KXT OF THK PACIFIC COAST FOR TIIF .EIXA IXSCRAXCE COMPAXV. Insurance companies, in the management of their aifairs, endeavor to secure the services of men of tried ahilit}’ and honorable reputation. The cHtna Insurance Company obtained such a representative when it elected Mr. George C. Boardman (now senior member of the firm of P)oardman & Spencer) General .Vgent for the Pacific Coast in 1868, a position he has aldv filled up to the present time. Mr. Boardman was born in Hartford, Connecticut, May 20th, 1828. His familv is of English descent, an early ancestor having come from Ifngland and settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1638. His father, Thomas I). Boardman, was for more than fifty years a pioneer manufacturer of block tin and lEfitannia ware in Hartford and New '^Mrk City. He received his early education in his native city, and after leaving school entered actively upon a mercantile career, first in Hartford and afterward in the city of New ^Trk. Subsequently he went tc^ Kansas and took an active part in the territorial political excitement which marked the early history of that state, returning to Hartford in 1856 to accept the position of Special Agent of the Merchant’s Insurance Company. He remained with that company for several years, during which time his duties required him to visit most of the states of the Cnion, and in i860 he was sent to ('alifornia, his visit to that state being the first made by any Special Agent of an /Vmerican insurance company. Early in the year 1861 the San Erancisco Insurance Comjiany was organized and the secretaryshi}') was tendered Mr. Boardman. This was accepted conditionally upon being jiermitted to hold the State Agency of the Alerchant’s Insurance Company. This latter relationshij') ceased following the jiassage b}' the state of a deposit law, the occasion of the company's retirement. Mr. Boardman held the position of Secretary for two 3’ears, and in 1863 was made President of the conqianv, which office he retained until the year 1868, when he resigned, and in October of that year was elected General Agent of the /Etna Insurance Company. finder his management the San Erancisco Insurance Company had marked success, but shortly after IMr. Boardman’s resignation the conqiany retired from business. During its existence it had paid regular semi-annual dividends, and finalh' returned to the stockholders their entire ca})ital and a surplus of more than twenty per cent. As General Agent of the vEtna Insurance Company and in his lormer positions as an underwriter, Mr. P)oardman’s experience practically covers the history of the insurance business on the Pacific Coast. He proposed and mainly promoted the original Board of Underwriters, which puldished the first tariff of rules and rates for California January ist, 1861. This Board was maintained for more than twenty years and paved the way for the Pacific Insurance Ihfion, which was organized in 1884. The interests of the “Huna" have lieen carefully guarded and fostered in Mr. Ifoardman’s hands, and the record of the Pacific Branch is one of such success and jirofit that it refiects great credit upon his administration. On the 1 8th of August, 1863, Mr. Boardman was wedded to Miss Annie Julia Hort, daughter of Samuel Hort, Es([. , of the firm of Messrs. C. .Adolph Eow cA Co., one of the leading importing and commission houses of San P'rancisco, and his three sons are now young men engaged in business in that cit\'. Mr. Ifoardman is regarded as a sound, conserxative and experienced underwriter: he is prominent in business and social circles and is a director of the San P'rancisco SaN’iims Union and a member ol the leading San P'rancisco clubs. o o •JB willig spencer ASSOCIATK (IKNKRAl, A(;KXT OK 'I'HK PACIFIC COAST FOR TIIF: -F.TXA INSURANCE COMPANY. George Willig Spencer, of the firm of P)oardman & Spencer, General Agents of the I’acific P)ranch of the .Eitna Insurance Company, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Sej')temher 17, 1H43. His family, on both his father's and motlier's side, was from New England and descended from Itnglish ancestors, who settled in i\Iassachusetts and Connecticut in the early part of 1600. riis father, Asa Spencer, was a man of high literary ability and prominent in science and art. Me was an honorary member of the “ Academy of Sciences" and the “ I'ranklin Institute" of Philadeljdiia, and ujion his death a monument was erected to his memory by his associates and friends in those and other scientihc bodies. The year following his father’s death, young Spencer, then a child five years of age, moved with his family from Philadelphia to the old homestead in New London, Connecticut. lie received a pulilic school education in that towm, and, in 1859, at the age of sixteen, he returned to Idiiladelphia and commenced his business career. His first connection was with the house of North, Chase & North, large manufacturers of stoves and hollow ware, the senior member of which firm was an old friend of Mr. Spencer’s father and took great interest in the boy's progress. Mr. Sjiencer remained with this firm until 1862, when, against the wishes and protest of his employers, but with the approval of his familv, he volunteered as a private in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry (Anderson Troop), lie was promoted to the rank of Regimental Color Sergeant and served with his regiment in all the ojierations of the Army of the Cumberland until the close of the war, vdien the regiment was mustered out of service at Nashville, Tennessee, in August, 1865. Upon leaving the army, Mr. Spencer returned to Philadelphia and at cmce obtained a position as bookkeeper in a dry-goods house, which he resigned the following year, and went to New hTrk City to accept a similar position with his brother-in-law, who was engaged in the provision and warehouse business. In 1868, an old schoolmate of Mr. Spencer returned from the west coast of South America, where he had been very successful, and offered him a partnership in a business at the Island of Tahiti, which he contemjdated establishing. He re(}uired the assistance of someone \vith a business training and offered Mr. Spencer a full partnership. The jM'oposal was accejited, but, on arri\ing at Tahiti, IMr. Spencer found the conditions unfavorable for the }’>roposed business, and in the spring of 1869 returned to San Erancisco, where he was offered a {position by Mr. Geo. C. Poardman, General Agent of the /Etna Insurance Company, which he accepted. This was l\Ir. Spencer’s first connection with the insurance business. He remained in the /Etna office as accountant and special agent until January, 1880, when he accepted the position as Manager of the Insurance Department of Messrs. Balfour, Guthrie cS: Co. He held this ))osition until August i, 189b, but then resigned it to accej^t the Associate General Agency of the .Eltna Insurance Company for the Pacific Coast, with IMr. Geo. C. Boardman, under the firm name of Ifoardman & Spencer. In his insurance career, Mr. Spencer from the first developed an adaptability that soon jdaced him in a prominent position as an underwriter, advancing from Special .\gcnt of the /EAna Company to Manager of the leading agency firm of Balfour, Guthrie A C'ompany, the marked success of that office l)earing testimony to his ability. In the several associations of underwriters of the Pacific Coast Mr. Spencer has taken a leading and influential part, his counsel alwa\s commanding respect among his associates and his work in committee being regarded as of a highly valuable character. •2S \ WILLI A^I IIENKV WYMAN (;KXKRAL Ac;EXT of 'I tlK N( )RT1I\VFSTFR\ DFPARI'MFXT of TIIF .ETXA IXSURAXCF C'OMl’AXV. The long and successful career of the pEtua Insurance Comjxan}' speaks volumes in its favor, and recommends it more highly than mere words ever can. The General Agent of the company in the Northwestern Department is \\hlliam Henry W’yman, who now resides at Omaha, Nebraska. He has served the above conuxiny faithfully and is doing an extensive and highly satisfactory business for them. Mr. Wyman was born in Canton, St. Lawrence County, New York, July 21, 1831. He was the son of Whlliam \\'. Wyman, who married IMiss Emeline Tapper, of Canton, on December 27, 1826. He is of the seventh generation removed from h'rancis Wyman, who came to this country from hhigland and settled at Charlestown (Boston), Massachusetts, juhor to 1640, and later at Woburn. The latter was die son of Francis W’yman Sr., of Hertfordshire, L'ngland. Whlliam Wh W^yman was an editor, and published a newspaper, first at Canton, New h’ork, then at Madison, Whsconsin, and later at Omaha, Nebraska. He removed to Madison from the East in 1838, and in 1839 started the “Madison Express." William H. Wyman’s educational advantages were confined to the common schools, and to a term each at the Beloit and Milton academies. However he and his brother, Albert U. Wyman (afterward Treasurer of the United States), received their education principally in the printing-office, where much of their boyhood was passed. W'hen about nineteen years old Whlliam II. became anxious to see something of the world and traveled to St. Louis, Louisville and Cincinnati, where he worked on various newspajiers as a compositor. In the last named city he became connected with the Protection Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, and entered the office as the junior clerk. On the failure of the Protection, he entered the General Agency of the .Etna, then under the charge of J. P>. Bennett, on September 15, 1854, and after a year of travel through the WTst and South as Special Agent returned to kladison and took the position of State Agent for Whsconsin. On December 23d, 1857, at Prairie du Sac, Whs., Mr. W'yman was married to Miss Isabel Watson, who died in Denver in 1880. Mr. Wyman held the position of State Agent until 1869 and after that was a year in the Local .\gency business in Milwaukee, after which he was called to Cincinnati as Assistant Cfeneral Agent of the /Etna. During the later years of his residence there he was married, November 3, 1887, at Lake (feorge. New h'ork, to Miss Maude Crosby, daughter of E. G. Crosby, of Crosbyside. In January, 1891, he removed to Omaha, to take the position of (General Agent in a new department, consisting of the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, W)’oming, and New Mexico, Oklahoma and Indian Territories. Mr. Wyman has always taken a great interest in the State Historical Society of Whsconsin and his name is continued on the list of non-resident Honorary \hce- Presidents. He has devoted much time outside of business to the accumulation of a library, principally Shakespearean, but with a specialt}- also of privately illustrated books, and including much that is antitjuarian. In connection with the Shakespeare library he became interested in the collection of a complete libraiw on the subject of the disputed autliorship of Shakespeare’s works, which resulted in compiling a book on the subject — ./ lUbliography of the Bacon- Shakespeare Literature, Cincinnati, 1884, pp. 124, and in the publication of other articles on Shakespearean sul)jects, principally in the Shakespearean Magazines. This, however, was not undertaken by Mr. W yman on accenmt of any doubts as to the authorship, but simpl}- as a literary recreation. IMr. W \\ man is independent in politics and \otcs for measures and men, irrespective of party. ///' KOCKWOOl) W. IIOSMER ('.ENKRAL A(;KNT OK 'niK AMERICAN AND THE MERCAN'I'IEE FIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES OF BOSTON. Among the most enterprising and successful of the rejmesentatives of great Fire Insurance Companies, the firm of R. W. Ilosmer & Company, of 156 and 158 La Salle vStreet, Chicago, deserves special mention. The long years i\Ir. Ilosmer has devoted to this business have been fruitful with valuable experience, which he has turned to good account by securing the agency of many of the best companies in existence. He is a native of Massachusetts, born at Concord in 1845, l^^t for many years has been a resident of Chicago. He is a son of Joseph and Martha (Bacon) Ilosmer, and the great- grandson of Major Joseph Hosmer, who was acting adjutant at the battle of Concord, April 19, 1775. Rockwood \V. Hosmer was graduated from the High School of Concord, and when but a boy decided to seek his fortune in the city of Boston. Being possessed of much perseverance and determination, he soon secured employment in the wholesale dry-goods house of Messrs. Theodore P. Hale & Company, and there remained for three years, laying the foundation for his subsecjuent successful career. Following this he engaged with Dobson & Jordan, Fire Insurance Agents of Boston, and continued with this firm in that citv until 1865, when he went to Chicago to help open the branch office of I. F. Dobson & Comjiany, successors to Dobson & Jordan. In 1867 he started in the local fnisiness on his own account, under the style of R. \V. Hosmer A Company, and at the time of the Chicago fire in 1871 he represented five Connecticut Fire Insurance Companies, including the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, which was the only one of seventy-five Fire Insurance Companies bankrupted by the fire that was able to compromise its debts and continue on in business under its original charter. In the year 1874 Mr. Hosmer’s brother, Joseph \\\ Hosmer, was admitted to the firm and they have continued together as partners ever since. They have represented alrout $15,000,000 of fire insurance capital as Local Agents and are at the present time Western General Agents for the American Insurance Company of Boston and of the Mercantile Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Boston. Both these companies enjoy the distinction of Iieing the only Boston Fire Insurance Companies that passed through the great Boston conflagration in 1872 and paid all their losses in full, amounting to nearly one million dollars. d'he American I'ire Insurance Company was chartered in 1818 and the Mercantile Fire and Marine Insurance in 1822. Mr. Hosmer is known as one of the most reliable authorities on all matters pertaining to insurance, , and stands in the foremost rank. Prudent and conservative in the selection of risks, liberal and just in the adjustment and settlement of losses, and representing only just and substantial corporations, he and his brother are the recipients of a large and useful jxitronage which includes many of the leading merchants, capitalists and property owners of Chicago and vicinity. Mr. Hosmer is an influential member of the Chicago Board of Underwriters and has been President of the same for the past ten years. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Chicago and l-nion Clubs, and of the hnndish Fake Shooting and I'ishing Club. Mr. Hosmer has been over a considerable ])ortion of the Ibiited States, visited Furope twice, first in 1874 and again in 1894. and visited Cuba in 1887. In politics he is a Republican in National aflairs. He has always been a regular attendant at the Unitarian Church. AMI^RICAN I'IRK INSURANCE COMRANY OF PI IILADELPIII A. The insurance that “makes assurance cloul)ly sure" is exemplified in the American I'ire Insurance Company of Idiiladelphia, which, since its corporation on the 28th of P'ebruary, 1810. has met every just claim against it promptly, and won for itself a rejrutation second to none in the country. Mam- times its resources and integrity were put to the severest test. When incorjiorated the authorized capital was $500,000. Of this amount $200,000 was paid in at the outset and the remainder was recpiired in 1827. 'I'he charter was amended |anuary 28, 1812, authorizing perj^etual insurance, and the first perpetual policy was issued March 10, of that year. The original officers of the company were William Jones, President, and Edward I'ox, Secretary. P>y an act ajii^roved I'ebruary 16, 1847, the capital stock was reduced to $277,500. April 14, 1865, an act was adojAed authorizing an increase to $400,000, with power to make the amount $500,000. These figures were reached in i>86. The American I'ire was admitted to New York in 1854, reporting under the laws of the state to the insurance department for the first time that year. The officers at that time were Samuel C. Morton, President, and Joseph G. Mitchell, Secretary. In 1855 Thomas R. Maris became Secretary and was made President January ii, i860. At this time the company's assets amounted to $659,525, and when he resigned, in 1882, they were $1,620,507. In April of that year Thomas II. Montgomery was elected President of the American I'ire and has since held that position. Richard Maris became Secretary and Treasurer in 1886, being the present incumbent of those positions, and Charles Ik Perot is \dce-President of the company. The total assets, December 51, 1895, amounted to $2, 409, 584. 55, the net surplus being $509,117.89. The income during the year was $1,511,959.80, the cash premiums aggregating $ 1. 197, 285. 1 1. The total iiremiums received since the organization of the company amounted to $29,779,- 165.85; total losses ]iaid, $17,959,216; total cash dividends, $2,698,955.50. The total amount of risks in force December 51, 1895, excluding perpetuals, $146,568,897. The total of perpetuals was $25,176,604. THOMAS HARRISON MONTGOMERY rRESIDKNT OF THE .\MERIC.-\X EIRE IXSUR.XXCE C'OMlWXV OF I’l 1 1 E.\l )EEPII I.\. d'homas 11 . Montgomery was born in Philadelphia, P'ebruary 25, 1850,' but for some time he has been a resident of Chester County, Penns}lvania. His father. Rev. James Montgomery, I). D., was Rector of St. .Stephen’s Church, Philadelphia, and was descended from William Montgomerie, of A)rshire, Scotland, who came to iMonmouth C'ounty, New Jersey, with his family in 1702. Rev. Dr. Montgomery, who died in 1854, married secondly Miss Mary Harrison W hite, granddaughter of ITshop White, the first Bishop of Pennsylvania. During his youthful days d'homas Harrison Montgomery attended the old Academ}' of the University of Pennsylvania and Rev. James Crowell's School, but his education was much interrupted by ill health. In the vear 1847 he entered the wholesale drug house of Charles Ellis A Compan\^ of Philadelphia, and in the year 1851 graduated at the College of Pharmacv. I'ollowing this he continued in the drug business in Philadelphia until failing health compelled his reliiujuishment. In 1855, after a most 34 T H E U N D E R W R I T E R. needed rest, he entered the insurance office of Richard S. Newhold, who was a^ent in Philadelphia of well-known Marine and Fire Insurance Companies, remaining there until 1855. His health continuing feeble he removed to Germantown, Pennsylvania, in October, 1856, and there made his home until 1871. During the latter part of the year 1858 Mr. Montgomery took part in the organization of the Enterprise Insurance Company as Assistant Secretary, but later became Secretary and still later Vice-President. On account of recurring illness he was advised to pass the winter in the West Indies and sailed for those islands in October, 1871. A few days after starting the great fire of Chicago took place and involved the Enterprise Insurance Conijiany in great loss. At the end ol the month of October this company made an assignment; sul)se(}uently but seventy-six and a half per cent of the claims were redeemed. In April, 1872, Mr. Montgomery returned to the States and soon after was elected General Agent of the National Board of P'ire PInderwriters, entering on his duties in May of that year. Severing his connection therewith in 1878, he returned to Philadelphia the following year, and in November, 1880, was elected Treasurer of the Insurance Company of North America. This he declined but accepted the Vice-Presidency of the American P'ire Insurance Company, and on the resignation of President Maris in his eightieth year, in April, 1882, he was elected President of the company. Mr. Montgomery is a member of the I^ennsylvania and New York Historical Societies; the Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of Colonial Wars. He has traveled extensively in the PJnited States and visited PAirope on three occasions. He has written articles on the genealogy of the Montgomery and the White families, and communicating other kindred articles to various magazines. Mr. Montgomery’s interest in church matters has placed him as member of several church vestries in New York as well as Philadelphia; he was accounting warden of Christ Church, Philadelphia, for many years, and is a delegate from that venerable parish to the Diocesan Convention, and is a member of the Art Club and the Church Club; is a meml)er of the old Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Clergymen of the Pipiscopal Church; Manager of the Fuel Savings Society of P^hiladelphia, etc., etc. RICHARD MARIS SECKK'rARV AND TREASURER OK THE AMERICAN EIRE INSURANCE COMI’ANV OK PENNS VLVAN 1 A. Richard Maris is a man whose practical business experience and judgment have made him so pronounced a success in the insurance field. He was born in Philadelphia and resides at 1530 West Seventeenth street, that city, at the present time. Plis parents, William Maris, Jr., and Margaret (Stevenson) Maris, died a few years ago. each having almost reached the unusual age of fourscore. A book of the Maris family, compiled by George Maris, of Wilmington, Delaware, traces the ancestry back for nine generations. In the [Hiblic schools of Philadelphia young Richard received his earlv education and finished by taking the principal course at the Central High School. At an early age he evinced a strong liking for mechanics, and, although anxious to enter a machine shop, circumstances arose which sacrificed all hojies in that direction. Although he had mapped out his life as above, upon leaving school he temporaril_\- engaged in the lumber business with his father, and subsecjuently, when a situation m a shipping and commision T I I E U N 1 ) E R \V R I T E R. :-}s house was tendered him, he accepted and held the same lor lour years. l)urin<^ that time he filled all the jxrsitions from office boy to chief clerk. Ujion the dissolution of the firm Mr. Maris was engaged for some time in the lumber commission business, but left that to fill a responsible })osition in a manufacturing establishment, where he remained twelve years. On the 15th of October, 1873, he accepted a j^osition with the American bhre Insurance Company and filled a clerkship until January 12, 1882, when he was elected Assistant Secretary and in August, 1886, was made Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Maris is connected with several charitable societies and with the Temple of Honor and Temperance, being Past Grand Worthy Templar c f Philadelphia. He is also prominent in Masonic circles, being Past iMaster of Perkins Lodge, No. 402: Past High Priest of Oriental Chapter, No. 183: Past Commander of Philadelphia Commandery, Knight Templar; member of (fraud Lodge of Pennsylvania, the Grand H. R. A. Chapter, Philadelphia Council, No. i, and a member of the Philadelphia Consistory. A. & A. Rite, 32d degree, and a member of the Union League, Philadelphia. His travels have not extended beyond this country and have been confined to the Middle and Western States. For over ten years he has been a meml)er of the Protestant hfpiscopal Church of the Incarnation, Philadelphia, and is now the accounting warden of the same. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party. Mr. Maris was married in i860 and his wife died in 1882. Two children were liorn to this union, Mhlliam Maris and Alice S. The son is Special Agent and Adjuster in the office of Rolla W Watt, Manager of Pacific Coast Department of the Royal A Queen Insurance Company. The daughter is the wife of William L. Degn, of the firm of Warthman A Co., of I’hiladelphia. Mr. Maris’ second marriage occurred in 1884, Miss Lucy II. Roberts, daughter of Hon. A. K. Roberts, becoming his wife. They have had one child, a daughter named Helen. In personal apjiearance Mr. Maris is about five and a half feet in height, weighs about one hundred and thirty-five pounds, light complexion and gray eyes. He has always enjoyed excellent health, and is fond of societ}'. CITIZENS’ INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. d'he Citizens' Insurance Company, at 156 P>road\vay, was incorporated April 28, 1836, as the ‘ AVilliamsburg Eire Insurance Company” of Williamsburg, N. Y., now the hfastern District of Drooklyn; changed in name to “Citizens’ fibre Insurance Coinj^any, ” and in location to Brooklyn, in 184c;: and amended in title to “Citizens’ Insurance Company” simply, in 1865. It had in 184c; a capital t>f $105,000, and gross assets amounting to $131,143. In a quarter of a centurv. after the great fires of Chicago and Boston had thrown into bankruptcy a hundred insurance conqianies, and crip]ded and almost ruined many others, the Citizens’ Insurance Compaii}' had a cajfital of 5300,000 and gross assets amounting to $843,802. 'I'his in spite of the fact that the great fires cf Chicago and Boston had multiplied by eight its annual a^•erage of losses by fire. It has paid for losses since its organization $6,355,3(18, about fifty per cent of its ]n‘emium receijEs, a smaller jn'ojiortion of loss than the statistics of the fire insurance business concede. 40 T II K L' X D K kW R 1 TER. 'I'he Citizens' Insurance Company has had in its entire history three Ih'esidents; Daniel Durtnett, until 1859; James M. McLean, until i886; and Edward A. Walton, until the present time. Mr. McLean was Secretary during the entire period that Mr. Durtnett was President, and was in the service of the company for thirty-nine years. Mr. WMlton was Secretary until 1881, and from that year \hce-lh‘esident until 1886, when he became President, and has been in the service of the company for forty-four years. The \hce-President is George H. McLean, a well-known and esteemed New- h’orker, son of the former Ih'esident of the comiiany, and in its service for fourteen years. The Secretary is Lrank M. I’arker, a prominent citizen of Newark, N. J., and a servant of the comj'iany in every department for a (quarter of a century. Thus the Citizens’ Insurance Company has the advantage of a management intimately allied with every j'lhase of its experience — an experience which begins with the hrst years of fire insurance in this country. The company has jiassed triumjdiantly through all tlie serious conflagrations, has always paid its losses promptly, and has paid dividends for over forty years. EDWARD A. WALTON I'RKSIDEXT OF THE CITIZENS’ INSURANCE COMl’ANV OF NEW YORK. Mr. kidward A. Walton was born in New York City, May 9, 1836, and his early youth was ]iassed in the towns of Norwalk, Connecticut, and Williamsburg, Long Island. His business career began on his fourteenth birthday, when he entered the employment of the Citizens’ Insurance Company in its Williamsburg office. After ten 3'ears of clerkshi]'i, he was in i860 appointed Secretary of the “Citizens’.” In 1881 he was promoted to the \hce-Presidency of the comjiany and in April, 1886, was elected President, completing forty-hve years of service on iMay 9, 1895. While Secretary of the “Citizens’” in 1878, he was elected President of the New h'ork P)oard of I'ire Underwriters and was recdected in 1879, serving at various times on several of its Standing Committees. .\t the annual meeting of the National Hoard of Lire Underwriters in May, 1894, Mr. Walton was elected President of that organization, having served for several years as Chairman of its Linance Committee. Mr. Walton has always taken an active interest in national politics, and in 1872 W5-,s Rejuiblican Elector from New Jersey. He is a resident of Ridgewood, in that state; is a Director of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company and of the National Citizens’ ILink of New ^'ork: Trustee of the Manhattan Savings Institution; and a member of the Union League and Insurance clubs of New York and of the Ridge- wood Club. The Citizens’ Insurance Company of New hhirk, with which i\Ir. Walton has been so long connected, was organized in 1836 and has always stood well in the community and with its competitors, and the fact that both Mr. James M. McLean, its former President, and Mr. Walton have been elected twice to the Presidency of the New York Hoard of h'ire Underwriters and to the National Hoard of h'ire Underwriters is an evidence that the c'ompany and its officers have secured the got)d will of their business associates. (;i<:oR(;i: iiamaioxd mclean. N’ICK-l’RF.SIDKX'l’ OF I'lIF CFlIZFXs’ IXSL’RAXCF COMPAXV OF XFW YORK. l’’ire insurance companies have revolutionized old business methods and they allord a security to owners of buildings and personal pr()}-)erty that removes all fear, d'hey have come to be a necessity of modern times. Among the prominent and reliable ones in this country is the Citizens’ Insurance Company, of New York. This comjiany was incorporated under a special charter, as the Williamsburg Fire Insurance Company, A}rril 2ril, 1837. It was organized under the present name in 1849. The original capital was $105,000. The first ofheers were Daniel Hurtnett, President, and James M. McLean, Secretary. After the reorganization in 1849, the capital was increased to $150,000, and in 1864 to $300,000, its present hgure. Mr. McLean was made President in i860, and the same year Mr. IL A. Whdton was elected Secretary. In 1880 Mr. Walton was made \hce-President and I'rank M. Ikirker Secretary. Air. AIcLean resigned in 1886, to become President of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, and was succeeded as President by Air. AAhdton. Then George II. AIcLean was elected Ah'ce-President. This company has received in jiremiums since organization $14, 331,957, has paid in losses $7,670, 546, and has paid cash dividends of $1,950, 577. It had at risk at the close of 1894 ’^ 7 -' 799 ’ 4 ' /• Citizens’ is now conducting its entire business from the home office, having agencies in the New Pingland, Aliddle and AATstern States. George II. AIcLean, A'ice-President of the comjiany, is a man of enterprise and perseverance and he has given a decided impetus to the business. Born in New AMrk City, November 24, 1849, he has lieen a resident of that city nearly all his life and has a pleasant home at 126 \\Tst 57th Street. His father, James AI. AIcLean, was a man of more than ordinary ability and of inexhaustilde resources. P'or many years he was President of the Board of PTIucation, the Citizens’ Insurance Company, the Alanhattan Life Insurance Conijiany and was Ahee-President of the Union Trust Company, the Alanhattan Savings Institution and the National Citizens’ Bank. He was connected with many public institutions. In addition to a good practical education, George H. AIcLean attended Columbia College for some time, and was then with the Citizens’ Insurance Company for several years. Failing health caused him to leave this countiy for Europe and he there spent some time in travel, first for health and afterward for jdeasure. He remaihed in that country until 1882, when he was called home to take charge of the Agency Department of Citizens’ Insurance Company. In 1886 he was made Ahee-President of this company. Air. McLean is a director m Alanhattan Life Insurance Company, Trustee of Alanhattan Savings Institution, and is connected with the Aletropolitan Aluseum of Art, National Museum of Natural History, and a member of the Aletropolitan, Calumet, St. Nicholas, Players’ and other clubs in New A’ork City. He is also a member of the Sons of American Revolution, and St. Nicholas and Delta Psi Societies. CHARLILS SINCILETON BARTOAV, I’RI'.Sl DFX r or rilF CnM.MnXWFAF i n IXSURAXCF CO.MI’AXV OF XFW YORK. Charles Singleton Bartow, President of the Commonwealth Insurance Companv of N('w A'ork, was born in the city of New A’ork on July 20, 1855. being the eldest of 42 u T 1 [ E U X 1 ) E R W R I T E R the fourteen cliildren of John A. and Mary W. P)arto\v. He is of the Huguenot family of Bartows, memlrers of which have resided in Westchester County, New York, for the past two centuries. He married in 1883 Rebecca Perit Lathrop, and they have several children. At school he was always an ardent student and graduated head of his class. In business he has been a particularly hard worker and his undertakings have uniformly resulted successfully. He was educated at Columbia Grammar School, New York, and the Grammar School of St. James College near Hagerstown, Maryland, and then entered Columbia College, New ’\Mrk, but left the latter before graduation owing to his father having met with financial losses. Subset]uently, when in business for himself, he entered and graduated from the Law School of Columbia College with the degree of LL. B., and was admitted to the Bar as an attorney and counselor at law in 1878. He began his business life in New York City in 1871 with Dowley, Corners & Co., old-school merchants who had a large business with foreign countries, with whom he remained five years, starting as junior clerk and rising to be accountant, corresjwndent and finally buyer — buving all their cargoes and having charge of their export department. He then in 1876 was offered and accepted the local agency of a marine insurance company, and subsequently of fire insurance companies also, and for ten years in New York City he conducted an insurance agency and brokerage business on his own account, for a time practicing law also, but eventually relinquishing the latter and also resigning his agencies of com- panies, owing to his insurance brokerage business having grown so large and profitable that it demanded his undivided attention. He then in 1886 was strongly urged by some prominent gentlemen to undertake the organization of the Commonwealth Insurance Company of New York — which he did, personally raising the majority of the capital stock and bringing in about all the directors — and it is in connection with this company and its success that he is best known as a fire underwriter. He in 1886 became the Commonwealth’s first Secretary and Manager, and devoted to the company his entire time and efforts, of which the Directors showed their appreciation l)y promoting him in 1892 to a Vice-Presidency and in 1895 the Presidency of the company. The Commonwealth Insurance Company of New York commenced business September 15, 1886, with a particularly strong and influential Board of Directors. The first officers were i\I. M. Belding, President; Thos. T. IDrr, \'ice-President, and Chas. S. P>artow, Secretary. Now. in 1896, the officers are Chas. S. P>artow, President; i\I. iM. Belding, \dce-President, and Thos. T. Barr, 2d Vice-President. Mr. IDrtow has been underwriter and general manager of the company since its organization. The Common- wealth has the distinction of l)eing about the only new company which survived the fiery period of 1887-93, during which the war in rates and excessive losses killed oft a dozen new comjxanies and over eighty old stock companies, and caused so many of the strongest surviving coirqxinies to show a serious loss of surplus. The Commonwealth made a little money even in that trying i^eriod, and more recently has earned excellent jirofits. d'he Commonwealth has done only a small business, l)ut has endeavored to do a careful and conservative one, ]iaying pai'ticular attention to the inspection and selection of its risks, and seeking profits and not merel}’ premiums. Considering only the combined losses and exjienses and the underwriting jirolit upon the premiums, the Commonwealth’s percentage of underwriting profit has been a]iproximately 7 jier cent since organization in 1886, 14 per cent the last three }'ears, and 28 jier cent the last year. In addition to the conqiany's paid-up cash capital of 5500,000.00, its net surplus on January 1, i8()6, was 5103,167.49 — the latter having been set aside out of profits earned in the period mentioned. (;rSTA\‘ \\'()LLAb:GKR. SKCRK'l'ARV OF TIIK CONCORDIA I- IRE INSURANCE COMI'ANV, OE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. livery student of American history must admit that of all those who, from various reasons, have left their native land and sought these hospitable shores — some for an asylum of freedom, some for an easier way of earning the necessaries of life — none have jiroved to he more industrious, more thrifty, or more reliable than the sons and daughters of the land of the Jvhine and the Danube. I'he (Terman element has always been a source of strength to America; and (fustav WAillaeger is a fair representative of the Teutonic race. lie was born at the city of Plathe, in the northern part of (iermany, near the Baltic Sea, Ajiril 6, 1836, and of the six children, four sons and two daughters, that blessed the marriage of Johann Wollaeger and Christine Spiering, he was second in order of birth. The ]uiblic schools of I’lathe furnished young Wollaeger with a fair education, and later he took up the study of theology, first privately, and later in the high schools of Bavaria and Leipsic. His intention was to go East as a missionary, but differences in opinion and doctrines caused him to leave the Mission Society of Leipsic and cross the ocean to America in 1858. In September of that year he reached this country and accepted the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran St. IMul’s Church, of Alihvaukee, a congregation lielonging to the Synod of Ifufialo, serving in that capacity for about nine years. Difficulties in the Svnod, of which he was I’resident, and sickness in his family caused his resignation. In the winter of 1870 the Concordia Eire Insurance Company, of Milwaukee, Whsconsin, was organized with a cajhtal stock of $200,000, the officers elected being j. II. Insbusch, President, and G. Wollaeger, Secretary. The latter took an active part in the organization, and has held the jiosition of Secretary since. He is energetic, thoroughly reliable, and well posted on all that relates to insurance. Mr. Wollaeger has traveled all over the United States, and in 1892 made a trip through his native country, which he had not seen for thirty-four years. He is satisfied with this countrv, however, and is a citizen heart and soul, there lieing nothing he is more proud of than his adopted land. Mr. Wollaeger was first married to Miss Emilie Koehler in 1859. She died in 1865, after years of sickness, leaving no children. In 1867, after having accepted a jiosition of bookkeeper in the hardware Imsiness of John Pritzlaff, he married i\Iiss Henrietta Thomas, of Milwaukee, who is still living and the mother of seven children — Lydia, Alma, Paul, Gustav, Emilie, Theckla and John. THE DEEAWARh: INSURANXE CO^IPANV OE PIHEADEEPHI A. riiis company was organized in Delaware County, near the town of Chester, in the winter of 1834-35, and its charter apjiroved liy the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the loth dav of .\pril, 1835. office was in the double dwelling at the north- east corner of 'Third and Market streets, Chester, but in 1838 the directors and stock- holders of the companv resolved to remove the principal office of the comjiany to Philadelidiia, leaving only an agency at Chester. The substantial double brown stone building at the southeast corner Third and 48 T II F. U N I ) E R W RITE R. Walnut streets, Philadelphia, was built by the company and occupied in April, 1855. For over forty years, therefore, it has occupied its present most eligible and con- venient offices in its own building in this active center of the City of Brotherly Love. For many years the company was active and successful in marine underwriting, but with the disappearance of American commerce from the high seas, marine underwriting became unprofitable, and of late the Delaware is known principally as a fire company, having reduced its marine acceptances to a minimum. Mr. George Serrill was the first President, being succeeded September 5, 1842, by Mr. William Fyre, Jr., and he in turn by Mr. William Martin, Jr., on January 3, 1844. Mr. Martin served the Delaware faithfully for eighteen ) ears, and was succeeded by Mr. Thomas C. Hand, whose long service of twenty-eight years was terminated by his death in 1890. Mr. Hand’s successor, Col. Tattnall Paulding, is now the executive of the company. Mr. Henry Lylburn, the present Secretary of the Delaware, was elected to that position in 1854, and his faithful service extends over forty-one years. The name of the Delaware has always been synonymous with its motto of “Just — Prompt — Certain.” It has paid in losses over eighteen million dollars, the largest single loss l)eing l)y the Boston fire of 1872, which cost the company $370, 205. COL. TATTNALL PAULDING PRESIDENT OF THE DELAWARE INSURANCE COMPANY. Col. Tattnall Paulding is President of the Delaware Insurance Company of Philadelphia. His career is characterized by particularly interesting associations and incidents. He is a son of the late Rear Admiral Paulding, and grandson of the famous John Paulding, who was one of the captors of IMajor Andre during the war of the Revolution. Colonel Paulding was born at Huntington, Long Island, in 1840, and received the principal part of his education at Ashland Hall, Montclair, New Jersey. Much as we may rail against hero-worship, much as we may proclaim that we are a people loving peace, there is a magic power in the clash of arms, and all our hearts turn warmly toward a military hero. At the first call for troops in April, 1861, young Paulding enlisted in the famous Seventh Regiment of New York, and proceeded with it into active service. On the 14th of the following month, however, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Sixth Regular Cavalry, and served with that command all through the war, participating in the various memorable battles of the Army of the Potomac. He was taken prisoner on the third day of the destructive battle of Gettysburg, and for about nine months experienced all the horrors of Libby Prison. Ujion his liberation he returned to his regiment and continued with it in acti\'e service until July, 1866, when he located in Philadelphia, h.is father being then Ciovernor of the Naval Home there. In the meantime he had been promoted through various ranks to that of Lieutenant-Colonel by lircvet. Wdiile a resident of Philadeljdiia Colonel Paulding began the study of law, which he at length relincjuished in order to go into active business. His fire insurance connections date from the year 1870. He has been a successful underwriter in the various fields which have lieen assigned to him. and takes pride in the business. In the month of September, 1890, Colonel Paulding was elected President of the Delaware 5(1 THE L' X 1 ) E R \V R 1 T E ]>L Insurance Company of rhiladelplua, and now holds that })osition. This company was organized in i8j;5: caidtal, The Secretary is M. L\ll)urn. Mr. Paulding is a manager of the Ciermantown Savings h'und and the Mercantile Beneficial Association, and he is trustee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. CHARLKS HERlBvRT YARNALL, \ICE-l’RKSII)E\r DEE.VWAKE INSURANCE CO.MI’ANV. The practical value of shrewdness and discrimination combined with strict probity is exemplified in the jirosperous condition of the Delaware Insurance Company of Philadelphia. This company was organized in 1836. The officers at the present time are T. Paulding, President; C. II. Yarnall, Vice-lh'esident, and II. Lyllnirn, Secretary. This is an able and e(}uitabl_y conducted company and is a favorite with those carrying large lines on all insurable propertv. Charles H. ’Sdirnall, \dce-President of the above, is a native of Philadel}dtia, l)orn July 21, 1852, and has Iteen a resident of that city all his life. Ilis father, Rev. Thomas C. ’i'arnall, 1 ). I)., came from old Quaker stock, but early in life he left the b'riends and, after graduating from Yale, entered the University of the ITotestant Episcopal Church. He is now Rector of St. Mary's Church, West Philadelphia— a position he has held for over fifty-one years — and now, although nearly eighty years old, is very active and preaches every Sunday. The maternal grandfather was a prominent physician of Philadeljdna and the great-grandfather was one of the early Presidents of the American Fire Insurance Company of that city. Charles II. Yarnall is one of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom are now living. He was thoroughly educated at the Episcojial and Mantua Academies, and after leaving school first entered a clothing house, where he remained about a year. Eater he accepted a position with a produce commission house and continued with the same until the year 1871. In January of that year he made another change, entering the office of the Delaware Mutual Safety Insurance Company, and gradually arose to chief clerk of the fire department. That position he held until the company was re-organized in 1890, when, to his surprise, he was elected its \dce- President, a jiosition he has since held. In 1891 he was sent to the Pacific Coast to look over the field and apjxiint a Ceneral Agent for that section. He selected Mr. Rolla Watt, under whose wise guidance the company did a very satisfactory business on the coast until he accepted a j'losition with the Royal Insurance Company. On account of the great demoralization of the business in June, 1891, the company withdrew from the coast, reinsuring its entire business with the St. Paul Eire and Marine Insurance Compan}-. Mr. ^'arnall is a member of the Hamilton Wdiist Club, being a great lover of the game, and is a player on the veteran eleven of the Belmont Cricket Club. For a number of )’ears he has been a memlier of the Protestant Episcopal Church and is at jn'esent choirmaster at St. Mary’s, having a cluiir of fort} -two voices, men and bens. In politics he is a Rejiublican and an earnest advocate of the ju'incijdes of that party. His marriage with Miss Anne Hoppin Jones occurred |une c), 1881, and of the three children born to this union only one. a son nine vears old, is now li\ing. .Mr. ^’arnaIl is about five feet eight and a half inches in height, and weighs one hundred and ninetv-five jiounds. He is not a ])essimist bv any means, but on the contrary always looks on the bright side of life. JAMIES JACKSON CLARK, VICE-PRESIDEX'r DETROEl' EIRE AND MARINE INSL'RANCE COMPANY. Insurance has pla}'ed a most important part in the development of the United States. Not organized to Imild or to manufacture or to trade, it gives confidence to others to invest capital in huildings, manufactures and stores, and promises to recoup enterprises in case hre entails loss upon it. How many homes and businesses have been established by the insurance companies over the wrecks caused by fire? How many fortunes have been restored by these comjianies? d'heir influences are always beneficial and at no time in the history of this country has this fact been more apjireciated than at the present hour. The Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Michigan is one of the largest, wealthiest and most popular institutions of the kind in the United States. The comjiany has ever been wise, jirogressive and prudent in its management, and the development of its affairs is ecpial to any in the history of fire insurance. It was organized in 1866 with a cash capital stock of $100,000. The assets at the present time are $1,244,- 191.26, and the cash capital $500,000, with a net surplus of $553,891.85. Its officers are: Whlliam xA. Moore, President; James J. Clark, Vice-President, and C. L. Andrews, Secretary. The advancement of this company has lieen uniform except in 1871, when the Chicago fire alisorbed over $200,000 of its cash, and the same three days' it lost over $90,000 in Michigan fires. In all these instances its losses were promptly paid, insuring it a conspicuous and honorable reputation. James J. Clark is a native of the Empire State, born at Oswego, October i, 1833. For some time now he has made his home in Detroit, Michigan. He is a son of John Clark and Olive (|ackson) Clark, and the grandson of Giles Jackson, who was a Colonel in the Revolutionary Army, and officer of the day at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, October 16, 1777. The public and private schools of Oswego furnished him with his primary education, and he subsequently received instruction through private tutors. For some time after leaving school he clerked in a book and stationery store, but on the 14th of May, 1852, he became connected with the Northwest Insurance Comjiany, at Oswego, as office boy, and in 1865 resigned the secretaryship of that company to take the position of Assistant Superintendent of Agencies of the Harmony Fire and Marine Insurance Company of New 'Wrk City. When that company went into licjuidation in 1867, iMr. Clark entered the Home Insurance Company’s Office in New hh>rk City as Manager of its Marine Department, and, in 1868, acceiAed the secretaryship of the Detroit Fire and Marine- Insurance Com|)any. In 1891 he was elected \hce-President and holds that office at the present time. Mr. Clark is a 32d degree Mason. Although an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church he is liberal in his religious views, as he is in jxilitics, though not of the order of 16 to i. THE FOUITABUF IHRF AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, OF PRO\'l DUNCE. R. I. I'he Eijuitable hhre and Marine Insurance Company was organized in the year i860, with lion. Thomas G. Turner as first President, and Augustus M. Tower its original Secretar\-. The death of Governor Turner occurring in 1875, Mr. h'rederick W. .Arnold, who had filled the position of Secretar\- after the death of Mr. Tower, became T H E U N 1 ) K R W R I '1' E R. T)4 President of the company and Air. James IE 'fillin^hast was made Secretary. 'I'liese present officers have I)een continuously in the service of the compan\- since their bovhood. d'his company is all that a fire insurance company should he — strong, liberal and prompt, amply able to meet all its liabilities, generous in its dealings, and ready to pay all honest claims as soon as adjusted. In the year 1872 the company, with net assets of less than $350, 000, sustained and paid losses by the great Boston conflagration of over $300, 000. From the date of its organization it has endeavored to merit the confidence of the insuring public l>y being true to its name, and the efforts of the management have been well supported by a corps of loyal agents. In the Western States the business of the “Equitable,” in connection with that of the “Merchants of Ih'ovidence, ” is conducted in the name of the “Rhode Island Underwriters’ Association.” Mr. Arnold is the Manager of the Association. He has also for several vears been Treasurer of the National Iffiard of Underwriters. VAKRM'iVT FIRE INSURANCE COAIPANY, OE NEW YORK. It will be remembered that in the I'all and Winter of 1871 and 1S72, after the great Chicago fire, many fire insurance comjianies were organized to take the places of those retiring from business in conseijuence of that great conflagration. Of all those companies only two are at the present date in active liusiness, viz., the German Anierican and Earragut. Of the German American, its record speaks for itself. ()f the Farragut, an outline of its history since January, 1872, can be given in a tew words. It was organized and commenced business in |anuary, 1872, with the late John AI. Furman, President: the late Whlliam A. Gobi), as Adce-President ; John IE Eeflingwell (its present President) as Secretary, and Samuel Darbee (its present \hce-President and Secretar}) as Assistant Secretary. I'rom its commencement its operations (as an underwriting association) have been under the guidance and control of the jaesent executive officers, and the record shows a measure of success that must have been gratifying to its stockholders. The record as taken from statements made to the Insurance Dejiartment shows that in twenty-four years the I'arragut has received in premiums over three and a- half millions: has jiaid for losses over one and three cjuarter millions, has returned to its stockholders over one half million dollars in dividends, has its capital intact, with full reinsurance fund and a handsome surplus. It has never failed to pay a semi-annual dividend since the year of its organization, and the average of such yearly dividends has been loyj per cent. Its policy has always been most conservative and the influence of its officials has always been in favor of honorable, business-like methods in the conduct of the fire insurance business. It has ne^'er favored the idea that volume of l)usiness was to be desired regardless of rates. Neither has its considered it wise or just to seek business by unfair competition. It has been the (policy of the comjiany to write moder ite lines, to see that risks were well scattered so that no ordinar}’ fire could cause an\- excessive loss, and to watch carefullv as to the moral hazard involved in aiu' application for insurance. Tlie results so far have been most satisfactory, and it is believed that, with Ijetter rates, “bettc'r fire de}iartments, ” “more careful attention to Iniildings by the various local boards,” and wiser counsels beginning to control the insurance fraternity throughout the countr_\-, it may reasonably be expected that the future will show ecjually satisfactorv results. Its present t'xccutive offfcc'rs are John IE Eeffingwell, President: Samuel Darbee, \dce- Presickmt and Secretar)-, and Alonzo Eewis, .Assistant Secretary. FIKK ASSOCIATION OF PI I ILAl )ELFI IIA. 1 he Fire Association of Philadelphia is one of the most trustworthy insurance corporations ever constituted. Its repute for superlati\e excellencies is worldwide. The Association, as an insurance company, was not so much an organization as a growth from the volunteer fire department of the city. Its fire insurance business was conducted for the purpose of supporting the organization, and the a)'>paratus and ju'operty of the fire companies were pledged as securities for their policies, as well as the personal credit of the trustees. The F'ire Association was organized Sejitember i, 1817, and a charter was granted March 27, 1820, Init it was not until 1833 that the legislature so amended the charter as to relieve the trustees from personal liabilities. Its first President was Michael Fox, and the original Secretary was Caleb Carmelt. This probably the only proprietary company in existence which Ijegan business without a dollar paid in or subscribed. The business was purely a local one until 1838, when the charter was so amended as to permit the Association to transact a general insurance business. When, in 1870, the city established a paid fire department, the Fire Association became a stock company, with a capital of $500,000, and its stock was distributed among the forty-eight companies comprising the Association, and either divided among the members or sold for their benefit. The great IMiiladelphia fire of 1850 marked an event in the diistory of the I'ire Association. F'inding itself with but $100,000 to meet its losses in that fire, its thirteen trustees forthwith issued a joint note, making themselves individually liable, secured the ready money, and paid all losses in full in cash. This prompt action elicited the conhdence and sympathy of the community, the result being that business poured in and the accumulations of thirty-three years that had been burned were replaced in four years. X’olunteer fire companies became a memory on January 3, 1871, when the F'ire Hureau was added to the official departments of IMiiladelphia. The F'ire Association was adjusted to the revolution, modeled anew, and its stock went up with a bound. No cause is this for amazement. On the company's capital of $500,000 the dividends, forty per cent, are unequaled in the circle of insurance, while the assets are at this time $5,581,243.06. The present officers of this vast concern are: E. C. Irvin, President, and B. T. Herkness, Secretary. E. C. IRVIN TRESIDEXT OE THE EIRE ASS( )CE\TI( )X OE P 1 1 lEADE 1 ,1TI T A. Mr. Fi. C. Irvin had held the office of \dce- President of the b'ire Association from 1884 up to 1891, when he was elected to the presidency. Seldom has a fire underwriter more deserved promotion. When he first became its \’ice-President he found that he had undertaken a large task. For several years jn'ior to 1884 the venerable institution had been progressing backward. It had maintainetl many small general agencies, and as the losses and expenses considerablv exceeded 100 in 1881, ’82 and ’83, the dividends had commenced an inroad on the net surjdus. Mr. Irvin at once proceeded to reorganize the agency system, giving attention to the loss ratit) meanwhile, d'he second year of his vice-presidency was marked Iw a large reduction in losses, and the )-ear following the surplus commenced to recuperate. The ju'ogress steadily continued from that time on, which means that the Fire Association has grown .■jC) r 1 1 K X I ) ]-: R W R I T R R. r>8 stron<:jer, larger and Ijetter from then till now. Referring to the figures of seven years ago, we find that Mr. Irvin has already added threeoiuarters of a million to the company’s assets and a half million to its net surplus, besides jiaying annual dividends of fortv per cent. He was l)orn near I Iarrisl)urg, Pa., May 22, 1839, and when a vouth taught school. Leaving this for the iron business, he soon became Manager of tlie cc'lebrated Duncannon Iron Company, and continued as such for several years. The experience he obtained in this business eminently fitted him as a fire underwriter and his SLibseciuent career has demonstrated his ability in that line. In 1869 he engaged in the insurance business as Special Agent bn' Pennsylvania of the Germania Phre of \ew York, with which he remained until the fall of 1874. He then became General .\gent of the Phcenix, of Hartford, making his headquarters in Philadelphia, and, with the excejition of New \\)rk, covered all the territory along the Atlantic coast from Lake Lrie to the Gull. He continued with the Phcjenix, doing most excellent work as Inspector, Adjuster and Agency Manager until F'ebruary, 1884, when he was offered and accepted the \hce-presidency of the I'ire Association, a position he held until elected President of the same. P)KNJAMIN TIILODORL IHtRKNESS SKCRK'I'.^RV OF 'nil-; FIRK ASSOCIATION OF I’l 1 1 FAt) K I.F 1 1 1 A. riiere are few men who show such fitness for their avocation, in that they are wide-awake, progressive and relialde, as Benjamin I . Herkness, Secretary and Treasurer of the h'ire Association of Philadelphia. P'or many years he has had jM'actical exj^erience in the insurance business, and as an underwriter is well known. Mr. Herkness was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1843, resided in that city all his life. His father, P>. Leander Herkness, is now living, but the mother, Mary J. (Lodor) Herkness, died in 1871. B. Leander Herkness and his Inother, Alfred M., originated the horse auction business in Philadelphia earl}’ in the forties, by holding regular weekly sales. Later they became the largest imjiorters of Jersey and Guernsey cattle, Shetland jionies, etc., in the state. In his lioyhood days he attended the juiblic schools and then took an ordinary course in the Central High School. His career at school was a little out of the ordinary, for he was sent home and suspended (juite frequently. A week after lea\'ing school he entered the employ of “James B. Rodgers Ihinting Company," as he was anxious to get a jiractical business experience, and one }’ear later, or in 1861, left that conqyany because they would not admit him to the firm. In 1871 Mr. Herkness entered the employ of the Fire Association with general duties in the home oflice, and adyanced stej') by step until he was elected Secretary and Treasurer in 1890. Mr. Herkness was made Past Grand of the Odd Fellows in 1889, and is a Mason, a member of Blue Lodge, Chajiter and Commandery. He has tra\eled o\er the eastern jyart of the United States and oyer the British Isles. In religion he is a Presliyterian, having joined that church in 1862. In politics a Republican. ()n llu' 2d of Ajnil, 1874, he married Miss \ irginia Palmer I'ield, of a prominent family of Penns^ K ama. Mr. Herkness has always been associated with musical organ- izations, is a member of Mendelssohn Club, of which he was \'ice-President and President and of which he is now “honoraiA’ member,” the first and onlv one the club ever had. He is also a member of Utojuan Club, of Philadeljdiia. WILLIAM II. CUNNINGHAM WESTERN MANAGER (_)F THE EIRE ASSOCIATION OF I’l 1 1 1.AI )E LIT 1 1 A, PENNSYLVANIA. The record of William H. Cunningham’s life is one of interest, for it shows what can be accomplished when one possesses the determination to forge ahead and has the wisdom to make the most of the opportunities which present themselves. In the midst of the failures and disasters of life it is a jdeasure to review his career and recognize the push and determination which have been brought to bear to yield such good returns. Mr. Cunningham’s services as Manager of the b'ire Association of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, have been characterized by a noticeable devotion to the welfare of the company and for integrity and fidelity to every trust. lie claims Pennsylvania as his native State and was born in Harrisburg, November 6, 183S. After receiving a good, practical education in the common schools, he entered Harrisburg Academy, where he remained one term. Later he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, and in April, 1859, engaged in the insurance Imsiness with Mr. Allison, who was at that time local agent, representing the Unity of London, Continental of New York, Security of New hhirk, Phenix of Brooklyn, and others. From that time up to 1862 he gained much valuable experience in insurance matters, and became well known as a wide-awake, thorough-going man of affairs. In the month of June, 1862, he went to Chicago, and was the first clerk employed by J. R. Payson, who at that time established the Western Department of the Securit}' Insurance Company of New York. His unusual business acumen and great industry resulted in his being made Assistant General Agent in 1864, and in 1867- he succeeded to the Western management of the company. With man\- other substantial companies the Security succumlied to the large losses caused by the great fire of Chicago in October of the year 1871. In 1872 Mr. Cunningham was made General Agent ot the Fire Association and American b'ire Insurance Company, both of Philadelphia, the latter withdrawing its dejiartment in 1884, the Fire Association continuing up to the present time. In his conduct of insurance matters and in the various relations of life Mr. Cunningham has acquired a worthy name, and, although he is but just in the prime of life, is old in exjierience. He is alive to all the general topics of the day, takes considerable interest in [Hiblic affairs, and has many warm friends. He is a memlier of the Ihfion League and Kenwood clubs of Chicago. FIREMAN’S FlTNl) THE INSIDE HISTORY OE CAEIE( )R\I a’s GREA TEST INSURANCE COMPANY. Underwritin^C while of ancient origin as a protector of maritime ventures, is of comparatively recent development so far as fire insurance is concerned. Particularly is this the case in California, where history is all young. Thirty-four years ago hut one local lire insurance company e.xisted in California — the San Francisco Insurance Company — a small concern writing no risks outside the city of San Francisco. At this time Wm. Iloldredge, a man of fertile brain but no underwriting knowledge, conceived the idea of organizing a local fire insurance company to do a general business throughout the coast in all cities having lire departments, and to be called the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. lie broached the subject to several merchants, Iiy whom it was favorably regarded, and on August 15, 1S62, the incorporation papers were filed. It appears, however, that something jirevented the perfecting of this organization at that time, for on May 3, 1863, new incorporation pajicrs were executed and hied by the following named parties: Henry Dutton, Daniel N. Dreed, A. Ilimmelmann, R. II. Waller, Joseph H. Moore, James II. Cutter, Michael Lynch and William Iloldredge, names well known to the older residents of San Francisco, but all of whom have, we think, now passed over to the silent majority. These incorporators evidently thought that “in a multitude of counselors there is safety,” for its $200,000 of capital was intrusted to the management of a board of fiftv directors. In scanning this list we hnd the names of many who were formerly and some who are still jirominent in our community. John ILarton, Samuel Brannan, E. Detrick, Henry L. Dodge, Arthur M. Fblrets, James C. Flood, B. M. Hartshorne, A. C. Nichols, W'illiam Norris, James Phelan, Louis P. Sage, Captain John Short, Da\id Scannell, J. M. Shotwell and J. C. L. Wadsworth were all included in the list. Mr. Barton has ever since and still holds the jdace as a director and member of the company’s executive committee. Our late Governor, Washington Bartlett, then CMunty Clerk, attested and filed the document. Whlliam Iloldredge was elected Ih'esident and Charles R. Bond, the then retiring City and County Assessor, was chosen Secretary. The organization of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company illustrates the fact that underwriting was then a matter of exjieriment, rather than a science, for, like man}- other jiioneer institutions, this company was launched with the idea of operating upon a patent plan, which was afterward found to be entirely impracticable. This idea, which doubtless suggested the name, was to donate a portion of its net earnings from each city to the charitable fund of the volunteer lire department of that citv, and then bv prominently displaying upon each house insured by it a tin jdate liearing the legend, “Insured in the Fireman’s Fund,” they calculated to secure the undivided efforts of the lire boys to protect that particular building, to the neglect and confusion of those not so fortunate as to possess one of these patent fireproof policies. At the end of the first year, the impracticability of this plan Iieing apparent, Mr. Iloldredge resigned to organize another insurance company upon another patent scheme, ()i 1' I r E IT N D E R W R I T E R. f .'2 and Samuel II. Parker, a prominent and very popular citizen, was elected President. The company prosjiered under the new management, and on April 4, 1865, its capital was increased from $200,000 to $500,000, the charitalrle fund donation feature was aljandoned cmd the compan^■ settled down to legitimate underwriting. l^y the sudden death of Mr. Parker, early in 1866, the company was left without a President, and on APiy 3d of that year W. B. P)Ourn, the Chairman of its Pixecutive Committee, wis elected Honorary President, and David J. Staples was selected for \hce- 1 ’resident and Manager. The tolhjwing year iMr. Bourn retired, and Mr. Staples was elected President, a position which he has ever since held, with constantly increasing credit and popularity to h(Ah himself and the company. In May, 1867, it was decided to establish a Marine Department, the business of the company having heretofore been exclusively lire insurance. William J. Dutton was selected to introduce and manage this dejxirtment, which has since been a continuously jn'ohtable one to the company under the management of Mr. Dutton and his successors, he having meantime filled the various positions of Marine Secretary, Assistant Secretary, (ieneral Secretary and \hce-President and Manager, which he now occupies. Up to 1868 the business of the com]>any had been confined to the Pacific Coast states, but in that year it was decided to extend its operations throughout the United States. George 1 ). Dornin, a gentleman of experience in the Pacific Coast agency field, was engaged as ('ieneral Agent. I’resident Staples visited the East, and after looking over the field, selected as ICistern managers Messrs. Skeels, Bowers ck Boughton, who established an extensive agency system, reporting to them at New Nork. Mr. Skeels was the retiring Insurance Commissioner of New h'ork, a man ranking high in ability and experience; Mr. Bowers was the Secretary f)t a local insurance com}')any, and iMr. Ifoughton had had experience in the field. Of this firm the only member now living IS IlenrvPi. Bowers, the present American manager of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, well known throughout the insurance fraternity as one of the brightest of New York's underwriting talent. d'he company’s marine interests were placed in the hands of Messrs. Lawson and Walker, who took a joint marine agency of three California companies, the Union, ( )ccidental and Fireman’s h'und, and, under the title of the California Insurance Union, estab'lished a system of agencies which transacted an active marine business at almost every seaport from Canada to 'I'exas, also at London and Liverpool. i\Ir. WMlker of above firm is still }U'ominent in New h'ork underwriting circles, being the senior member of the underwriting and adjusting firm of Walker & Hughes. On October 9, 1871, the company received its bajitism of fire — the city of Chicago was laid in ashes, and with its burning buildings disap[)eared the assets of many insurance companies, including every Chicago local. Of the five California companies represented there, three collaj)sed, the fourth paid its losses dollar for dollar, but, disheartened at an experience which had cost it so dearly, at once withdrew all its Lastern business, and restricted itself to the diminished honors and revenue of a local i)usiness. The b'ireman’s h'und alone recognized in this gigantic disaster one of the natural, although severe, incidents which it was organized to meet, and at once prej'iared to pa}- its obligations. President Staples and (ienernl Agent Dornin were at once dispatched to Chicago, and soon telegriiphed home that the company’s loss would exceed halt a million dollars. .Mtluaigh this amount was more than its entire capital, its directors were not daunted. F 1 R E A N D M A R I X F. but immediatelv levied an assessment of fifty per cent, and instructed Messrs. Stajiles and Dornin to settle the losses and draw for same as fast as adjusted. Within 6o days these losses, a^gre^atin^ $529,365, were all settled, and President Staples returned home, bringing with him a document signed by every Chicago claimant, complimenting the company ujKm its prompt and satisfactory settlement of its losses. Having shown by this crucial test that the ]X)licies of this California company, like the product and currency of its home, were “pure gold,” the P'ireman’s I'und bounded into popular favor, its policies being eagerly sought and its business raj'jidly increasing. year later, just as its officers were congratulating themselves that the I'ireman’s b'und was fairly launched upon the high road to prosperity, but fjefore its Chicago, wounds had scarcelv commenced to heal, in November, 1872, the Boston fire called upon it for nearly a (juarter of a million more. These losses also were promptly met, and for nearly ten years thereafter the I'ireman’s b'und remained the only Pacific Coast company having a single agency east of the Rocky Mountains. Later on, various California companies, emboldened l)y its success, established Eastern departments, or undertook to do an Eastern business through the direct appointment of Ivastern local agents, experimented with the business so long as it was profitable, and retired when overtaken l>y disaster, again leaving the field to the single occupancy of the Fireman’s b'und Insurance Company. The Occidental Insurance Company, one of the partners in the California Insurance Union, having failed in the Chicago fire, and the Union Insurance Companv having at the same time retired from the blast, the Marine Syndicate, known as the California Insurance Union, waas dissolved, and the b'ireman’s Fund’s Eastern business was thereafter restricted to fire insurance. Three years after the Boston fire the Fireman's b'und was called upon to pay its largest single Ikicific Coast loss, through the burning of \'irginia City on Octol)er 26, 1875: its loss in this fire was $163,984, and the only annoyance w'hich its stockholders experienced as the result of this rather heavy draft upon its surplus was the passing of one cpiarterly di\’idend, which, however, was made u}) bv a double dividend three months later. Since that time the company has never skipped a dividend, nor failed to show' a healthv increase in both assets and net surplus at the end of each succeediim year. In 1873 the company extended its business to the Sandwich Islands and placed its agency in the hands of Messrs. Bishop & Co., representatives of the Bank of California at Honolulu. This agency was given fire and marine departments and developed an active business for the company throughout the islands, which it has ever since maintained. It being seen immediately after the Chicago fire that the entire field east of the Rocky Mountains wars too large to l)e satisfactorily handled by the New York branch, the district w'as divided, the Atlantic States being left in the hands of Messrs. Skeels, Bow'ers & Boughton, w'hile a new' department was created to include the Mississippi \'alley States, over w'hich Thomas S. Chard was selected Manager, with headquarters at Chicago. In March. 1876. the firm of Skeels. Bow'ers & Boughton being dissolved, the entire field wars placed in the hands of Mr. Chard, w'ho for ten years thereafter managed the district from his Chicago office. In 1885, the business having grown to proportions manifestly too large for the successful supervision of a single manager, it waas again THE UNDERWRITER. ()4 divided and an Eastern department established to include New England and the Atlantic States, and placed in charge of Chas. W. Kellogg, \hce-IT'esident and Manager of the Shoe and Leather Insurance Company of Boston, an underwriter of experience and ability. Mr. Kellogg established his head(|uarters at Boston and under his care, sup- jdemented by that of A. K. Simpson, his efficient Assistant Manager, the business of his department has more than (juadrupled in the past ten years, and with a result alike flattering to himself and the company. Meantime the volume of premiums in the field retained by iManager Chard increased rapidly, until now he and his popular Assistant Manager, Mr. S. T. Collins, have reporting to them, in the Central Department, a larger business than was formerly written in the district covering both that and the Ivastern Department, when it was all reporting to Chicago. In 1873 i\Ir. Bond, who had been the company's Secretar}' from the time of its organization, was given charge of its financial department, and George D. Dornin, there- tofore the company's General Agent, was elected Secretary, and William J. Dutton, the compan3"’s Marine Secretary, was elected Assistant Secretary. • Mr. Dornin's marked ability and thorough acquaintance with the agency business was an important factor in the rapid and yet safe growth of the compan)'’s l)usiness which immediately ensued. In 18S1 Mr. Dornin resigned to accept the Pacific Coast management of an English conqvany, and Mr. Dutton succeeded him as General Secretary. Ills acceptance of this t>ffice made it necessary that a ])ractical marine underwriter should be found for the marine department, and N. T. James, a graduate of Annapolis, who had also had experience in marine underwriting, was elected Marine Secretary. • Mr. E. \\b Carpenter, formerly the company’s agent at Helena, Mont., and afterward for hve years hrst a traveling and then a resident sjiecial of the company, was at the same time elected .Vssistant Secretary. In 1886 the battering offer of the management of a cjuartet of large English companies made to Mr. Caiq^enter caused his retirement from the company, and Bernard b'ay monville, who had for four years previously been acting as the comany's leading Special \oent was elected Assistant Secretarv. At the same time Secretarv Dutton was given the further title of Second \'ice-President, in order that the company might always have an executive head on duty in the absence of the President, the office of P'irst \hce- President being held l)y one of the directors as an honorary }iosition. In 1888 the Union Insurance Company having lost its President through death, Mr. James was elected as his successor, and the I'ireman's Eund lost its Marine Secretary. This position remained vacant until 1891, when it was handsomely filled by the appointment of J. B. Levison, the Marine Secretary of the retiring Anglo-Nevada Insurance Company, whose marine business the Eireman’s I'und took over with its Marine Secretarv. In May, 1890, the death of Alpheus Bull, who had for many years held the office of Ilonoraiw’ \hce-President, left that office vacant, and Wdlliam J. Dutton was elected \dce-lTesident and Manager, Bernard I'aymonville being elected Second \bce-President and Secretary and George 11 . Tyson Assistant Secretar_\-. The office of General Agent was at this time created, and Stephen D. Ives, who for ten years had been representing the company in the held as Special Agent and Adjuster, was selected for this ]K)sition, and located at the home office, with general sujiervision of the coinjiany’s special work. In 1892 Mr. Tyson resigned to accejit the management of the Pacific Coast FIRE AN D M A R I N E. f).-) Department of a prominent New York company, and Louis Weinmann, who had ably represented the company first as a local a"ent and then for four years as Special iVgent, was elected Assistant Secretary, and still retains the position. In April of this year the Calitornia Insurance Company retired from business, after an honorable and successful career of nearly thirty years, and the Freman’s Fund reinsured its entire Pacific Coast business, fire and marine, aggregating nearly $500,000 premiums. In the same month, learning that the Home Mutual Insurance Company, the next oldest Pacific Coast company, with a large surplus and profitalfie business, was negotiating to reinsure and retire the I'ireman’s Fund, jiurchased the entire stock of the company at a large ju'emium, ecpiipped it with a Marine Department, using the marine business of the California as a nucleus, and it has since continued in business, an active and profitable adjunct to the h'ireman’s Fund. d'he following October the Union Insurance Company discontinued marine under- writing, and its entire marine business was taken over l>y the P'ireman’s Fund — as was also the Oregon and Washington business of the retiring North W'est Insurance Company ot Oregon. In 1894 two more local companies, the State Investment and Oakland Home, retired from business and the b'ireman’s Fund reinsured the Oregon business of the former and the entire business of the latter, covering the field between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. In 1895 the last remaining Calitornia local company, the Sun of California, retired, its fire risks being assumed by the Fireman’s Fund and its marine risks by the Home Mutual. In this year, also, the State Insurance Company of Salem (Oregon) —the last remaining Pacific Coast company — jdaced its outstanding business in the hands of the h'ireman's Fund Insurance Company and retired, leaving only that company and its associate, the Home Mutual, remaining of the score or more of local companies which have from time to time competed for the business of our citizens. Uj) to 1895 the growth of the business of the company was so constant and satisfactory that its officers neither felt inclination nor found time to consider the cpiestion of a further extension of its field, but in the summer of 1895 \dce-President Dutton, with iManager Kellogg, made a tour of the Southern States, which resulted in the establishing of a Southeastern Department, including the States of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama, and which field was jdaced in charge of Edgar S. Wdlson, Secretary of the Macon Insurance Company, (d Macon, Georgia, a man of long experience in that field as a capable and successful underwriter. Mr. Wilson's department has been in operation only six months, Init its speedy growth and excellent results thus far give promise of a future which will reflect credit upon Mr. W’ilson and the comjrany. In 1895, it becoming apparent that the company could extend its marine field to good advantage, it was decided to reopen an Ifastern Marine Department. Mr. Levison visited the blast, and after a careful consideration of th.e merits of the many ajiplicants, selected as Manager for the com])any Joseph Hadley, I)e]uity Underwriter of the New ^^)rk Department of the London Assurance Corporation. This deixirtment has been running now for only a f(wv months, but already the volume of business has so far exceeded the company’s expectations that it is evident that ere long this dejiartment will become a prominent factor in the compan)’’s ]n'osperit\’. THE UNHERWRITER. ()C. The history of the Fireman's Fund Insurance Comjiany is a record of high pros- perity mixed with serious adversity; a triumph of merit and grit over the disasters incident to the experimental growth of a pioneer organization, its early history illustrating and its later avoiding the dangers to which all inexjierienced underwriting institutions are subject. Organized in 1863 with a caj')ital of $200,000, this was in 1865 increased to $500,000. In 1871 the Chicago hre called for an assessment of $250,000, and in 1873, after the l)OSton hre, the capital was reduced to $300,000. In 1880 this cajhtal, j:)rovirig inadequate to its large business, was increased to $750,000, and in 1886 was again increased to a round $1,000,000, where it now stands. The j^rivilege of subscribing for this last increase at $30 jn'emium per share was distributed pro rata among the company's stockholders, and such as did not care to take their shares found ready jnirchasers for their option at a still greater premium. The historv of underwriting shows that not one insurance company in twentv })asses its hrst decade of life, and that scarcely one in one hundred becomes permanent, and the l*acihc Coast has been no excejRion to this rule, for of twehty-hve local companies organized in California and nearly half as many more in Oregon and Washington, onh’ the Fireman's Fund and Home Mutual remain, and these two are practically one, for the stock of the Home Mutual is owned by the Fireman's Fund. These dead companies have represented all sorts in size and influence, from the Anglo-Nevada, with its $2,000,000 of jxiid-up capital, and the old Pacific, with its over- shadowing intluence, down to the Builders' or California I'armers’ Mutual, with gall for capital, and who each depended for influence upon the mistaken prejudice of a class of dupes to whom they both jiroved faithless in the time of trial. This score of dead companies with their various grades of financial strength and underwriting management — some of them officered by underwriters of marked ability — possessed one common weakness — they were “tjuitters. " They regarded underwriting not as an exact science, which if jiropeiiy ajiplied was as safe as banking and not more jno'iitable, but as a speculation — a sort of gambling venture, which, with an average jirofit of 5 per cent throughout the field, could yet in their case stand a 15 or 20 per cent rebate to stockholders and friends and still have a margin left; and when results showed their error, instead of blaming themselves and jiracticing self-denial and stopping their rebates, they denounced their officers as incompetent or the business as unprofitable, and sold out to the highest liidder for cash. d'he Fireman’s I'und pursued exactly the ojiposite course. Its Presidents have been New England men and the same class has largely dominated its Board of Directors, and has given to its jiolicy the straightforwardness peculiar to that people; and its jiatnons, well knowing that, the P'ireman’s Fund having pledged itself to a system of rates, it was useless to attempt to secure from it any concession from those rates, yet, dejiending ujion its “ scpiare-toed ” honesty for an honest settlement of an honest loss, preferred its policy at full rates to that of less exacting and more jdiable competitors wuth a less rugged rejoutation for sipiare dealing. Thus the bhreman’s Fund, by energy, activity and a good reputation, has steadily forged ahead, showing each succeeding year for the jxist twenty years an increase in premiums, in assets and in net surplus, until it is now the largest American company w'est of New ^’ork in assets, in surjdus, in business transacted and in the number of its agents. 68 T H E U X D E W R T T E R. W ith its growth it has also maintained the respect of its fellows in the business, and the pardonable pride with which Californians regard this favorite California company is shared by the officers and directors of those less fortunate companies who have from time to time retired, for of the eight Pacific Coast companies which have ceased business in the past hve years, live turned over their entire business and the remaining three each a portion of its business to the Fireman’s I'und. The b'irem all's Fund is now the largest American company west of New York in cash assets, in net surplus, in the volume of business written and in the number of its agents. Its interest account from its investments more than pays its dividends, so it carries all its underwriting profits to its surplus for the protection of its policy-holders. It }iays 12 per cent per annum dividends upon the par value of its stock, and it has not skijijied a dividend in twenty years. California may well be proud of the b'ireman’s Fund. DAVID J. STAPLFS PRESIDKXT OF THE FIREM.\N''s FUND INSUR.\NCE COMP.-\NV. David J. Staples is a native of Massachusetts, having been born in Medway, in that State, May 3, 1824. As with the majority of the New England youth of that period, he had his own fortune to carve. Before he had reached the age of eleven years both his parents died, leaving David and his two sisters orphans. Feeling loth to hve by the kindness of relatives, the boy, at the tender age of eleven, secured work- in a cotton factory, and besides earning his own living assisted his little sisters. After two years of hard work in the factory he packed his bundle and started out to better his fortune, and, if possible, obtain an education. After an all-day walk he secured work from a farmer, his compensation being his board and clothes, schooling three months in the winter, and a new suit of clothes' at the end of three years’ service. At the age of eighteen he apprenticed himself to William Mason, of Taunton, Mass., to learn the trade of a machinist. Having served his time there he subsec|uently worked at his trade in Newton, Boston, Springfield and Salem, until 1849, when the gold find in California started him to this coast, which he reached after a journey of six months across the plains, helping to lay out, as he expresses it, the route later followed by the railroad. His iirst business venture in this State was freighting with pack mules from Stockton to the miners in Tuolumne County. In the spring of 1850 he purchased a Spanish grant on the Mokelumne river, which he at once imju-oved, and soon started East for his family, which consisted of his wife and an infant daughter he had never seen, and with them he returned to California in January, 1851, and for ten years thereafter was a prominent figure in the industrial and jiolitical development of San Joa(}uin County, being one of the organizers of the Kei^ublican Party in Stockton, and a delegate to Washington in 1861 at the first inaugu- ration of President Abraham Lincoln. When, after Bull Run, Washington was a]-)]u'oached by the victorious rebels, he joined the guard of honor which then enlisted to protect the nation’s capital, and one of his most highly j^rized mementoes is his honorable discharge from this service, bearing the personal autograph of President Lincoln. On May 3, 1866, he was elected \’ice-President and Manager of the Eireman’s b'und Insurance Company and a year later was made its President, and since that date 7(1 THE UNDERWRITER. has ably presided over the destinies of that company, and his ability in management and courage, shown particularly during the trying times of the Chicago and Boston fires, have been of the greatest benefit to his company, lie served many years as President of the Board of Fire Underwriters. Mr. Staples, while in no sense a politician, has ever shown himself a public-spirited citizen, and everything looking to the public good finds in him a ready and earnest worker. lie has occupied the jx)sition of Justice of the Peace of San Joa<|uin County, \h’ce-President of the State Agricultural Society. Port Warden of San P'rancisco, and \’ice-President of the Society of California Pioneers, during the incumbency as President of the late James L ck, whose friend and confidant he was for many years, and whose munificent beiiuests to the society were largely due to the infiuence of Mr. Staples, lie is also a jiopular member of the G. A. K. I'or two years the precarious condition of Mr. Staples’ health has been a constant source of anxiety to his friends, but tliis summer shows a marked improvement and encourages the hope that he may be restored to renewed health and usefulness. Mr. Staples is not lacking in the financial fruits of his extensive business career, and is rich in the friendships earned by a long, honorable and useful life. WILTMAM J. DUTTON \ ICE-1’RKSII)KXT OF THK FlRKMAx’s FUXD IXSURAXCF COMRAXV. Whlliam J. Dutton was born in Bangor, Maine, January 23, 1847. father started for California in 1849, and in 1855 sent for his wife and family, including the subject of this sketch. Mr. Dutton grew up in San Francisco, first taking a public school course, after which he attended the City College, then a flourishing educational institution, where he took a college course in the classics and higher mathematics. llis father, Henry Dutton, whom many of our readers will well remember as one of our ]'>rominent and highly esteemed citizens, was one of the original incorporators of the I'ireman’s h'und Insurance Company, and served for many years as its \hce-President, and it is, therefore, not surin'ising that when his son cast about for a business opening he should gravitate toward underwriting. In January, 1897, he olAained a position, at the foot of the ladder, in the office of the agency of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company. He remained there until Mav, 1867, when, the h'ireman’s Fund Insurance Company having decided to establish a Marine Department, he was chosen as marine clerk. At that time there were four other locals doing a marine business, and two or three agencies, wh.ich, however, were not actively pushed and did only a limited business. The locals did j-a'actically all the business, of which the principal portion was b}’ steam and sail from New York, the nearest approach to an overland railroad then being the Pony bfxpress. The Marine Department was a success, and a source of profit from the start, and has continued so ever since. In 1869, Mr. Dutton was elected Marine Secretary, and so remained until 1873, when, for convenience's sake, his title was changed to Assistant Secretary, he, however, retaining special charge of the Marine Department. In June, 1881. upon the retirement of the former Secretary to accept the manage- T 1 1 1C UNI) E W R I T E R. ment of an English agency, Mr. Dutton was elected General Secretary of the company. In 1886 the title of Second \hce-President was created and Mr. Dutton was elected to this office in addition to that of Secretary, and in 1890 he was elected \hce-President and Manager, which position he still holds. A student by Nature, and successively drilled, first in marine and then in fire underwriting, Mr. Dutton’s business experience has been more general than that of any other Pacihc Coast underwriter, and his ability has been hljerally recognized l>y his associates in both branches. In 1876 Mr. Dutton was placed upon the Committee of Adjustments of the Board of Marine Underwriters and in 1888 was elected President of the Board and still holds both positions, having been continuously re-elected. He served almost constantly as an officer or member of the Executive Committee of the Eire Underwriters, during the life of the Pacific Insurance Union, and in the present cut rate war has been prominent among the conservative element which has been laboring to reconcile the discordant radicals and protect the business from ruin, having served last year as President and now acting as \’ice-President and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Eire underwriters of tlie Pacific. llis ability and reliability as an underwriter places Mr. Dutton in the front rank of the profession, and his uniform courtesy and urbanity make him extremely popular both in and out of insurance circles. BEKNAKD EAYMONVIELE SF.CRK'IARV OF TIIF FIRFMAX's FUND IXSURANCF COMPAXV. P)ernard I'aymonville, Secretary of the Phreman’s Eund Insurance Company, was born in the State of Illinois, and his early education was obtained in that State. His hrst knowledge of the insurance business was secured in the office of a real estate and insurance broker in the City of Chicago, where he placed risks in addition to his other duties. In 1877 he came to California and settled in the town of Eresno, in Eresno County. Shortly after locating there, he secured the local agency of forty-three insurance companies, and, liy hard work and strict attention to business, he succeeded in building up one of the largest local agencies in the State. ^ In 1881 the P'ireman's Eund Insurance Company, recognizing his ability as an underwriter, tendered him the position of Sj^ecial Agent and Adjuster, which he accepted and retained until the early part of 1887, when he was appointed Resident Special Agent of the same company and assigned to the duties of the retiring Assistant Secretary. In July of the same vear he was elected to the office of .Vssistant Secretary, and in October, 1890, was elected General Secretary, to which, in August, 1893, was added the title of Second Vice-President. While full of energy and work, Mr. I'aymonville’s character as a careful and ]iainstaking underwriter make his senices of great value to his comjiany and to his profession, in the conservative councils of which he is always jirominent. He has repeatedly served on the bixeculive Committee of the Pacihc Insurance Union, and sLiccessivchy filled the positions of Secretary, \hce-President and President of the Eire Lbiderwriters Association of the Pacihc. THOMAS SEPTIMUS CIIAKI) MANACKR CKN'l'KAI, DEl’ARTMKNT FIREMAN’s EEXI) INSURANCE CnMl’ANV. Thomas Septimus Chard, seventh son of William and Mary Chard, was born in Bullalo, New A'ork, y\ugust 15, 1844. llis parents were natives of England. Chard- Somerset was the home of his jiaternal ancestors, and his mother was born in Eong Puckby, famous in Cromwellian times. Mr. Chard’s parents died when he was ten years of age and his school days ended when he was hlteen. Ills hrst employments were in banking and transportation business, and in 1864 he came to Chicago and engaged with h'. A. Howe, then agent of the Goodrich line of steamers. In 1865 Mr. Chard's uncle, Thomas Goodman, organized the Eumberman’s Insurance Company of Chicago, and in 1867 he became connected with that company. The Eireman’s Eund Insurance Company established in New 'S’ork an Eastern Department in 1869, and in 1870 the Managers, Skeels, Bowers N Boughton, employed Mr. Chard to plant agencies in the West. The Chicago hre, occurring in October, 1871, made the establishment of a Western Department seem desirable to the company and Mr. Chard was placed in the resiionsilile position of Manager July i, 1872, which position he has hlled continuously since that date. In 1875 the Eastern and Western de}iartment.s of the company were consolidated and Mr. Chard was given the position of General ^Manager for all states east of the Rocky Mountains. The llnion Insurance Company of San Francisco gave to him the same jurisdiction in 1880. The growth of the business necessitated further changes in 1885 and the reestablishment of an Eastern Department, since which i\Ir. Chard has held his original jurisdiction for the Eireman’s Eund. In 1879, the Western States being practically without any organization for the control c)f the general business, Mr. Chard became interested in a plan to establish such an association, and gave freely of his time to the work of organizing what afterward became famous as The Union. His letter, reporting the success of the preliminary movements, contained a call which drew the memlrers of that association to 'the first meeting. i\Ir. Chard has been twice President of the Union. Mr. Chard married as his first wife Mary, daughter of Crom- well Chase, a banker in the early days of Galena, Illinois. .She died in 1876, and his second wife was Adaline Peabody Whitney, of Waltham, Massachusetts, a direct descendant of John Whitney who founded Watertown, Massachusetts. In politics Mr. Chard is a Re}niblican, and tor many years he was an intimate friend of Professor David Swing, whth whose religious views he largely sympathized. SYDNEY TENTSON COEEINS ASSISlAN'r MANAOER OE I'lIE CENTRA!. I lERART-M ENT OE THE EIREMAX’s FUND INSURANCE COMI’ANV. Since the tide of immigration hrst set toward America perhaps no class of people who have found homes ipion her shores have done more to build up her interests or contribute more to her relative imjiortance and national }irosperity than the wide-awake, stirring and jirogressive Irishmen who have come here to enjoy freedom of thought and independence of action. Svdne)' T. Collins, Assistant Manager of the Central Deiiartment of the b'ireman's I'und and Home Mutual Insurance companies, is a native of the lUnerald Isle, born No\'ember 19, 1857, and is a man who ]X)ssesses all the admirable characteristics of those of that nationalit\'. He is now a resident of Hinsdale. Illinois, wherc^ he is ]H)pular both in social and insurance circles. 7-4 T I I K U N D li R W R I T I^: R 7 () In the year 1872, when Init a lad of fifteen, he left home and friends to seek his fortune in the New World. He first entered the office of the Phoenix xA.ssurance Company of London, at Montreal, Canada, and in 1879 went to Chicago, where he became connected with the WMstern Department of the Commercial Union Assurance Company, under the management of C. F. Mullins- In 1887110 left the services of that company and accejited the Western management of the xVnglo-Nevada x\ssurance Corjioration of San Francisco. Energy and vigilance were the essential (}ualifications of his calling and Mr. Collins possessed these good points to such a degree that his true worth was soon recognized, and on the admittance of the Caledonian Insurance Company to this country he was ajipointed Manager of the Western Department of that company at Chicago. Afterward he moved to Philadelphia and became Assistant Lbiited States Manager of the same company. Upon the amalgamation of the Caledonian and Niagara companies under Niagara management at New 'I’ork, Mr. Collins retired and returned to Chicago in February, 1893. lie had charge of insurance matters at the World’s Columbian Exposition during the Fair and acted under the Insurance x-\uxiliary Conimittee. At the close of the b'air he entered the service of the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, as xAssistant Manager of the Central Department at Chicago. Mr. Collins is married and has two children. He is a Kepublican in politics and has ever advocated the principles of that ]iarty. In religion -he is an Episcopalian. His brother, Edward Tcnison Collins, is Pesident Secretary for Ireland of the North P)i'itish and Mercantile Insurance Com]')any at Dul)lin. CHARLIUS WETMORE KELLOGCx MANAC.ER EAS'l'ERN DEPARTMENT EIREMAX's EUND INSURANCE COMPANY. Charles Wetmore Kellogg, Manager of tlie lUistern Department of the Fireman’s b'und Insurance Company, at Poston, comes of Scotch ancestry, his progenitors first settling in Connecticut in 1652. Later, descendants settled in different parts of the lbiited States and our subject is of the New York branch of this family. His father, Morris Kellogg, was born at New Hartford, Oneida County, New York, in 1804, and made his home there until 1830, when he moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio, where Charles Wetmore Kellogg was born IMa)’ 30, 1839. In this county the hitters childhood and youth were passed. When the civil war broke out in i8bi, voting Kellogg promptly responded to the President’s call for three months’ volunteers, and later enlisted with the 29th Ohio Wilunteers for three years’ service. He was soon jiromoted to the rank of Lieutenant and remained with his regiment about a year, when he was detached to ser\e on the staff of the (ieneral commanding the b'irst Pxrigade, 2d Division, 12th x\rmy Corps, enjoying the ]iromotions in his regiment (where he held lineal rank) to b'irst Lieutenant and Captain. He continued to serve as staff officer until the close of the war, when he was honorablv discharged, alter the grand review at W ashington. Soon after this new fields of action enlisted his interest and energy, and he moi'ed to Pittsburg, Pennst'lvania, where his business life commenced in the office of J. Gardner Collin, as solicitor and inspector. bwo years later he became a partner — the firm being C'oflin A Kellogg -and this brought a commission for the organization of a Western 78 T H E I' N 1 ) E R R I T E R. Department for the I'ranklin Fire Insurance Company of I’hiladelphia. This grew into a large and successful agency business, with headquarters at Pittsburg until April, 1S72, when it was moved to Philadelphia. In 1874 the jiartnership was dissolved by limitation, Mr. Kellogg succeeding the firm as Manager, a ])osition he retained until Noveml>er, 1881, when he severed his connection with the conq'iany. A few months later he became General Agent of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, located at the home oflice; but before the first year had expired he was tendered the vice-presidency of the Shoe and Leather Insurance Comjiany of Boston, to manage its fire business. Before this department could be fairly reorganized, the directors (in consetpience of heavy marine losses) decided to reinsure the company's entire business and retire. In i\pril, 1885, Mr. Kellogg was tendered the position of M anager for the organization of the Eastern Department of the P’ireman’s Fund Insurance Company, and this position he fills at the ]u'esent time. The well merited success that has followed his efforts has been gained through principles of sound business integrity and conservative methods. AKTIIFK KlfXMIfKF SIMPSON ASSIS'l'AXT MANAGER EASTERN DEI’AR'I'M EN'l' EIRE.MAn’s EUXl) INSURANCE COMI'ANV. There are few men m insurance circles who show as 'much fitness for their avocation, in that they are wide-awake, experienced, reliable and energetic, as Mr. A. K. Simpson, Assistant Manager of the Eastern Department of the Fireman's Fund Insurance Comjiany, of San P'rancisco, California, at Boston, Massachusetts, and although a com- paratively young man, possesses in an unusual degree the essential (|ualifications necessary to make a success of this calling. Mr. Simpson is a product of the Buckeye State, liorn at Mill Cieek, Mahoning County, August 27, 1855, and the son of P^rank Simjuson and Martha A. (Gilliland) Simpson. The parents resided in Mahoning County, Ohio, until the latter part of 1855, when thev removed to New Castle, P’ennsylvania, and thence to Allegheny City, that State, in 1861. Wh en about fifteen years old young Simpson left school and was emjdoyed in the office of a railroad company for four years. He then entered the office of the Allemannia Insurance Company of Ifittsburg, ITnnsylvania, where he was employed in the various lines of office work, until about 1S80. After that he entered the office of the Citizens’ Insurance Company, of the same city, and remained with that company until it estab- lished its agency jilant, when he was appointed Special Agent and established its agencies in the Piast and West. Mr. Simpson continued with this company until September, 1887, when he left its service and entered the employ of the Ifastern Dejiartment of the P'ireman's PTmd Insurance Conqiany of California, as its Special Agent for the New Ivngland States, with headciLiarters at Boston. That position he retained until September, 1894, when he received the appointment of Assistant Manager of the department, and is the present incumbent of that office. In his religious views iMr. Sinqison has alwa^•s been a Protestant, and in politics he is with the Keiniblican jiarty. He has never married. % KDCxAR S. WILSON MA.\A(;KK S( )l TIIEASTKRX departmen t EIRE.^E-\N’s EL ND LNSl’RANCE COMPANY. The advent of the I'ireman’s Fund Insurance Com]iany of California in the South was a notable event. While other Pacific comjianies had failed, lic|uidated or reinsured, the Fireman’s Fund, now in its thirty-fourth year, has steadily grown, adding annually to its income, assets and surplus, until on the 31st of December, 1895, to present a statement which entitled it to front rank in the fire insurance companies of the world. With gross assets of $3,449,095.88, it has a net surplus over all liabilities of $987,205.09. In its operations it covers the entire field from Boston to San Francisco. It has established a Southeastern Department at Macon, Georgia, and selected as Manager, Mr. Edgar S. Wilson. Ibider his intelligent direction the company is rapidly assuming the position to which it is entitled by its hnancial strength and long experience. The company is to be congratulated in having secured so able and progressive a Manager for the South as Mr. Wilson. It is an honor to represent the Fireman's Fund, and that company is honored in having such a representative. Mr. Wilson was Ijorn in Athens, Georgia, in 1850, and there secured his education. Later he moved to Sparta, in the same state, and engaged in a large and successful mercantile l)usiness for some time. Always having a fondness for and possessing c|ualities eminently fitting him, he followed his bent, that of hre insurance, commencing as local agent for several prominent companies in that line, but still continuing his mercantile duties. In 1884 he relintjuished merchandising and devoted his whole attention to insurance matters on a more extended and exclusive scale. Selling out, he removed to Macon, Georgia., where his experience and (pialihcations soon found j)roper recognition, l)ecoming a member of the fire insurance hrm of Col)b, Wilson & Cabaniss. In the year 1886 he organized the Macon Fire Insurance Conuxiny, since which time he has been a director in that company and its Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager. In Octol)er, 1895, he was appointed Manager of the Southeastern Department of the b'ireman’s Fund Insurance Company, embracing the States of Georgia, Alabama, Florida and North and South Carolina, with head(|uarters at Macon, Georgia, and has so far done a very successful business for the comirany. lie is an elder in the Tatnall Square Presbyterian Church of Macon, \'ice- President of the Chamber of Commerce, and was for a number of years a Director and Treasurer of the Macon Public Library. For four years he was a member of the military staff of Governor of Georgia, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He is now and has been for three years Chairman of the Fire Commission of iMacon, Georgia. He belongs to a class of young, active, enterprising and public-spirited citizens whom Macon has largely to thank, not only for the conspiciunis place she holds commercially in the eyes of the world, but to whose principles, tact and good judgment cultured society there, as elsewhere, offers its prof(,)undest respect and admiration. LOUIS WIHNMANN. Louis Weinmann, Assistant Secretary of the Fireman's I'und Insurance Companv, is the only “nat ve son" in the official staff of the company. His jiarents were jiioneers and he was born at Benicia, California, in the early ’50s, when that city was looked upon as the coming metropolis of the State. SO TH E UX DERWRITER. S2 On reaching maturity, he engaged in Imsiness in his native city, and, attracting the attention of sjiecial agents in their search for locals, was induced to accept the agency of a number of insurance companies, prominent among them the Fireman’s Fund, which local jn'ide influenced him to make his leading company, and the thorough- ness and intelligence of his work classed him among the company’s “star” agents, h'eeling unwilling to rej)resent any company to which he could not give a volume of business sufficient to satisfy his ideas of what constituted good treatment, he finally concluded to restrict himself to a single comjiany and accordingly returned the supplies of nine jirominent companies, reserving cmly the Fireman’s Fund, for which he, for a numl)er of years folhwving, did a large and very pofitable ljusiness. In iS88 he was engaged as a Special Agent, and after traveling for three years was, in July, i8gi, located at the home office as Resident Special Agent, and in January, 1892, elected Assistant Secretary, and still holds the office. Mr. Weinmann is a thorough and painstaking underwriter, active alike in the office and among his associates. For the jiast three years he has efficiently served the Association of Fire Ibider- writers of the Pacific as Secretary and Treasurer. J. H. LFVISON. J. P). Levison, Marine Secretary P'ireman’s PAind Insurance Company, although not a native son of California, was born close to the border, having first seen the light in Virginia City, Nevada, in the early ’60s when the Comstock Lode was turning out its millions, stocks were booming and Nevada was the greatest silver-producing State in the Pinion. In 1875 he came with his parents to San Francisco, where he has ever since resided. lie first entered the insurance Imsiness in 1878 as a junior in the agency of the New Zealand Insurance ('ompany, but left this in 1880 to take a place as clerk in the Marine Department of the agency of Hutchinson N iMann, which was then doing a very large San I'rancisco local business. When the Anglo Nevada was incorporated, in 1886, he was engaged as its marine clerk and was shortly after elected Marine Secretary, which position he held until the company retired from business in 1890. Its marine business having been reinsured by the P'ireman's P'und Insurance Company, they also secured, at the same time, a very prominent part of its good will in the person of Mr. Levison, whom they elected iMarine Secretary of the P'ireman’s Fund, and under his intelligent and active management this dejiartment has continued to grow, having since that time, beside holding its own, absorbed the business of two of its local comjietitors, the “Union” and the “Sun,” upon their retirement from business. Mr. Levison stands high as a marine underwriter and bids fair to manage the “salt water department” of the leading California company for many years to come. JUDCiK KUGKXE CARY WESTERN ^rANA(;ER (iERMAN-AMERICAN INSLRANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Judge Eugene Cary is an admirable example of the theory that no real excellence can be obtained without dauntless courage in surmounting obstacles. The successful men of the day are, as a rule, men who have planned their own adYancement, and have accomplished it in spite of difficulties, and with a certainty that could have been attained only through their own efiorts. ' This class of men has a worthy representative in Judge Cary. He was born in Boston, Erie County, New York, February 20, 1835, and his early years were passed in hard work on a farm. Reaching the age of sixteen years, he started out on his own resources, and after teaching school several terms began the study of law, first at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, with Judge David Taylor, late of the Wisconsin Supreme Court; afterward at Buffalo, with Judge James Sheldon and Judge Nathan K. flail. In 1856 he began the practice of his profession at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was soon after elected City Attorney, and the following year, when twenty-two years old, was made County Judge of Sheboygan County, at that time one of the most populous and wealthy counties in the State. When civil war broke out, in 1861, he was jmompt to enlist in his country’s service. Even as a soldier he evinced the surpassing talent for affairs which made him so successful professionally, and was given positions of responsibility demanding both strong intellectual force and the fearlessness of personal peril; first as Captain in the Eirst Wisconsin \Tlunteer Infantry, and subsequently as Judge .Advocate on the staff of the General commanding the Eirst Division of the Eourteenth Army Corps (Army of the Cumberland). Soon after the war he settled in Nashville, Tennessee, and served one term in the State Senate and one term as Judge of the Circuit Court. In 1857 he began his insurance experience, as Local Agent for the .Ttna and Hartford insurance companies, at Sheboygan. After the war he served for a time as State .Agent for the Tvtna, in Tennessee. In October. 1871, he went to Chicago, Illinois, for the Imperial Insurance Conijianv'. organized and was manager of its W’estern Deprtment until 1873, when he accepted the management of the W’estern Department of the German-.American Insurance Comjxiny, which position he has held ever since. Judge Cary, as an underwriter, while progressive, is at the same time cautious and conserva- tive. He desires profitable results rather than large figures, and the success of the company under his charge has given ample testimony of the wisdom and efficiency of his methods. He was for two terms President of the “Union,” and has always taken an active part in its counsels. Judge Cary has reason to take special pride in the patriotic record of his familv. Himself a soldier in the Union Army, he had two brothers in that army, both surgeons, one of whom died in the service. .An uncle was a soldier in the American .Armv during the War of 1812, and was killed in battle. His grandfather Cary was a Revolutionary soldier, and tracing his ancestry back to the arrival of the first of them, over two hundred and fifty years ago, at Plymouth Colony, all bore an honorable and loyal part in their country’s service and history. In the spring of 1883 Judge Cary was a candidate for Mayor of Chicago, on the Republican ticket, the nomination being entirely unsolicited. .Although he failed to get the office, it is now generally conceded that he received a majority of the legal votes cast, but was defeated by the peculiar counting out method then in vogue. No insur- ance company has achieved better results in the West than the German-.American nnd none is more successful to-day. X3 ALFRED S. GILLETT PRESIDENT GIRARD EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OE IT I IDA DEEPH lA. The true principles of fire insurance are most alily and effectively embodied in the plans and methods of the Girard Eire Insurance Company of Philadelphia. This comjiany has already achieved a remarkable success under the able management of Mr. Alfred S. Gillett, the President, and his associates. Its excellent system and liberal terms have attracted the attention and enlisted the patronage of the best classes of the puldic, and it stands forward as the true exponent of fire insurance. Mr. Gillett organized the Girard, and for nearly the whole of its career has lieen its leading spirit. It commenced business with a subscribed capital of $200,000, but later increased it to $300,000. Its present available assets amount to nearly $2,000,000, after having paid dividends approximating $1,500,000. Its plan is safe, equitable, simjile, practical and mathematically correct. Mr. Gillett is a native of Heliron, Parish of Gilead, Connecticut, born in the year 1818. His family on his father's side were among the early residents of Old Dorchester, iMassachusetts, having settled there in 1635. Members of it, however, soon removed to Old Windsor, tin the Connecticut River, and hence were among its earliest white inhabitants. The father of Alfred, Rev. Nathan Gillett, was for a tjuarter of century the clergyman of the IMrish of Gilead, Imt he subsetiuently removed with his family to Western New 'Wirk, where he continued his ministerial duties for many years. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary Wkir, and served during the eight years. Rev. Nathan Gillett married Miss Lydia Jones, of Hebron, daughter of Capt. Samuel Jones, who was also an officer in the Colonial Army, serving with Gen. Israel Putnam, under a commission granted by King George II. After the removal of Rev. Nathan Gillett and family to Western New York, his son Alfred was sent back to Connecticut to complete his education, and subsequently to enter the counting house of an older brother. At a still later period he engaged in business in Georgia on his own account, and not until the friendly relations between the North and South had almost ceased, and war became imminent, did he turn his face northward again for business. He commenced his career in Massachusetts, at Chicopee, then a jiart of old Springfield. At that time Cabotville and Chicopee were both embraced in what is now known as the City of Siningfield, but later on the two former became one township and re-assumed the old Indian name of Chicopee, thus forming a very busy town of itself. Springfield, however, in conse(|uence of important railroad interests centering there, soon outstripped its neighbor, and has long held supremacy as the leading city in Western Massachusetts. It was during the period when Chicopee’s future seemed so promising that Mr. Gillett located there and embarked in the insurance business. At that time the underwriting business of the country was almost wholly local in its char- acter — a “general insurance agency” where various kinds of insurance could be obtained in different companies through a single agent being then unheard of — and it is said that Mr. Gillett was among the earliest pioneers in this innovation, if indeed he was not the first to establish an agency. After spending a number of years in merchan- dising, he entered the insurance business in 1846, and soon had the agency of half a dozen companies, fire and life, among them the Connecticut .Mutual Life, of which he was one of the first agents. I lis business jirospered, averaging one hundred policies per week. This was due in iiart to Mr. Gillett's enterprise in the use of printer's ink. resent that company in connection with his son. Both men stand high with the leading business men, capitalists and manufacturers of the city and do an extensive and highly satisfactory business for the companies they represent. Mr. I\ollo has traveled over most of the states of the Union and is a well informed man. In politics he has always voted for the nominee whose political principles are in accord with his own, irrespective of party affiliations. His religion is based upon a belief in God and the principles of righteousness. He selected his wife in the person of Miss Jane T. Fuller, daughter of General Fuller t)f Fllington, Connecticut, and their union was celebrated in the year 1845. To this union, have been born three children, two daughters and one son. The latter has Ijeen associated with his father in business for nineteen years and over. WILLIAM FULLER ROLLO (;KXEKAL A(;KNT western department oe the girard eire insurance co.mranv. The absolute necessity for lieing protected against ruinous loss by fire is nowhere more fully realized than in large cities, and in them fire insurance companies have found fertile fields of usefulness. It is the most effective means that has ever been devised to afford such protection, but it is a well established fact that all insurance does not insure; and in this connection the financial condition and reputation of insurance companies must be carefully considered, as well as the character and standing of those who control the local agencies. Among the oldest and best known representatives of the most famous and successful fire insurance organizations, the firm of Mhlliam E. Rollo & Son holds a high place. This firm represents the Girard Fire and Marine Insurance Gompany of Philadelphia as Managers of the Western Department, and the Western Assurance Company of Toronto, as Cook County Managers. W’illiam F. Rollo is a native of Philadelphia, born February 15, i860, and has been connected with his father in the insurance business for over nineteen years. He is held in high esteem in professional circles for his great ability and experience, as well as his strict integrity, honor and jirobity, and, although young in years, is thoroughly familiar with all that pertains to insurance. His parents are both natives of the Nutmeg State and descendants of old and jirominent families there. Mdien but an infant he was brought to Chicago by his parents and grew to manhood in that city. In the public schools of Chicago, and in a local academy, he received a thorough education, and when l)ut seventeen years old began his career in the insurance business. When he had reached the age of twenty-one he purchased an interest in the firm of William F. Rollo & Company, and soon after this the firm name was changed to William F. Rollo & Son. Mr. Rollo and his father represent comjianies whose reputation r II E r X I ) I-: r w r i t e r. '.K) is world wide and who are prompt and reliable in adjusting and settlinj^ any claims for losses that may occur on all matters connected with their insurance. ()n the 31st of |anuary, Mr. K’ollo was wedded to Miss Mary R. Smith of Conneaut, Ohio, daughter of John N. Smith, who was Captain of the Second Ohio Artillery during the War of the Rebellion. They have five children, three sons and two daughters, all of whom are li\ ing. TIMOTHY YOU Lb: P>ROWN .MF/IROPOLITAX MAXACrKR CLKXS FALLS AXI) OTHFR IXSFRAXCF C( ).M I’AXIFS. Rusiness men everywhere are invited to examine the companies which Timothy Hrown represents. For many years he has l)een actively interested in the insurance business and in all the intervening time no one has failed to receive payment promptly for any and all losses sustained, who took out jiolicies with the companies he represents. This is a record that speaks volumes in itself. Men are judged l)y their performances and they are trusted as they prove themselves worthy of confidence. These companies are among the very best in the country as their names will show; Albany, Buffalo G., Buffalo Commercial, Concordia, Glens Falks, Grand Ivapids, Alilwaukee j\L, Michi- gan, New I lamjishire. New Orleans Insurance Association and Rochester G. Mr. Brown has been General Agent for the Itastern States for the past twelve years and from the very first success attended his efforts. lie has had great experience in this line and is a very successful business man. Mr. Brown was born March 16, 1836, in New York City, but for some time he has been a resident of Bergen Point, Hudson County, New Jersey. His parents, biphraim Daniels Brown and Ann (Twybill) Brown, were born in New York City, the father of old New bingland stock and the mother of binglish origin. Ephraim 1 ). P>rown was a man of more than ordinary ability and for over forty years was President of the Merchants’ and Traders’ Bank of New York City. During his youth Timothy Y. Brown attended the Alechanics’ Societ}’ School, a prominent high school in New York at that time, and received thorough training for a collegiate course. His boyhood days were happy ones, and when still quite young he was taken in the bank, of which his father was president, and remained there for six years. ()n the 28th of Deceml)er, 1858, he entered the insurance Inisiness as Secretary of the Tradesman Insurance Company of New York, and held that responsible position for twenty-six years. The history of that company was a success. It paid large dividends and for twenty years its capital was $150,000. It paid losses of $300,000 in the P>oston lire and $60,000 in the Chicago conflagration, l>esides large sums in other cities. It closed up business in 1883 and jxtid its stockholders 113. b'ollowing this Mr. Brown was made manager of the Standard Fire Office of London, but this company retired from the United States about a year later, and he subsecpiently started in the lire agency business in New ^\)rk City. For nearly twenty years he has been local agent in New' York City for the Glens Falls Insurance Comj’'any and the Mibvaukee Mechanics’ Insurance Conqxiny. Mr. Brown has traveled very extensiveh’ both in biurojie and the United States. He is a Democrat by precejit. b'rom early ^anith he was reared to the bijiiscopal faith. He selected his life companion in the person of Miss Mary C. Wkdton, a fair daughter of the citv of New York, and their nuptials w'crc celebrated June 7, i860. She is of an old New York family descended from the Law'rences and Waltons of Revolutionaiw times. MAJ()]^: LIMNGSTON MIMS MAXAGKR SOUTHKRN DEPARTMENT GREENWICH EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. Whenever an attempt is made to write the history of a great enterprise or the successful career of any man, it has been found that ability, backed by ]uish and energy, lias been the basis of it all. “The record of a busy life” can be truly applied to any sketch, be it brief or long, that pretends in the slightest degree to be a record of the life and services of Major Livingston Mims, the General Manager of the Southern Department of the New York Life Insurance Company, and for many years Manager of the Home Insurance Comjiany in the South, and now and for several years past Manager of the Greenwich Fire Insurance Company of New York. Major Mims was born in South .Carolina, but when quite young moved with his parents to iMississippi, where he received his education. Having selected law as his choice of a vocation, he was admitted to the bar before the age of twenty. There, at the outbreak of the war, he was a prominent and wealthy young jilanter, engaged con- spicuously in the politics of the times, and for a number of years occupying the most responsible and lucrative position in any of the Southern States, namely, that of the Supervisory Court of Chancery for Mississippi, and also a State Senator, and distin- guished for his campaign as one of the electors for Breckinridge and Lane for President in the memorable contest of i860. His record during the war is closely identified with the leaders of the Confederate service, and he was for some time on the staff of the late (fieneral Joseph E. Johnston. The close of the war brought with it to Major Mims, as it did to so many of his countrymen, utter wreck of fortune, and it was then that he turned his attention to the insurance business, in which he has been so conspicuous a success. He conceived and carried out a plan for liringing South the managing agency of one of the large insurance companies of New York, and was appointed Southern Manager, greatly to the benefit of that company. In i8()8, with his commission as General Manager of the New York Life for Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, he returned to ^Mississippi and formed a partnership with General Joseph F. Johnston and Governor Benjamin R. Humphreys, under the firm name of Joseph E. Johnston and Company. For five years the firm had the agency of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company for its Southern Department, with headquarters at Savannah, and did the largest business ever conducted in the State. At the same time the firm had the management of the New York Life Insurance Company, and a large business was done. In 1873 the firm resigned the agency of the Liverpool and London and Globe, and at once accepted the management of the Home Insurance Company of New York for nine Southern States. General Johnston retired from the firm eight years ago, and upon Major Mims has rested the entire responsibility of the business. The jiosition of the “Home” in the South, it is well known, is largel}' due to his efforts and popularity with the public, as well as his great inffuence with the agents. To iMajor Mims the insurance interests in the South owe a great deal. For two years he was Bresident of the Underwriters’ Association of the South, and was for seven years the Bresident of the Southeastern Tariff Association, iiositively declining re-election thereafter. His high social distinction is best evidenced by his presidency for ten years past of the Capital Cit}' Club in ■Vtlanta, Georgia, perhajis the most distinguished club in the South. Major Mims is a typical Southern gentleman, his personal courtesy and hospitality T H E U N D E W R I T E R. <)4 being proverbial. His reputation as a presiding officer and executive has ever been of an honorable, considerate and exceptionally well equipped man. Upon his refusal to stand for re-election as President of the Underwriters’ Association in 1894, associa- tion presented him with a magnificent silver service as a testimonial of appreciation of his services. Distinguished in appearance and manners, the generous host, the energetic, influential man of business, it is hardly to be wondered at that his success has been as it is. ISAAC REMSEN LANE rRESlDENT IIAN()\'ER EIRE INSURANCE COMl'ANV OF NEW YORK. The fire insurance interests have enjoyed a degree of prosperity fully equal to any other branch of liusiness. Their history is the history of every other class of enterprise in this country. It is one of small beginnings, of slow but certain development at first, and finally of the most vigorous and luxuriant growth. One of the most substantial and reliable insurance conijmnies of this kind in the United States is the Hanover Phre Insurance Com}iany of New York. It was organized xApril 15, 1852, with a cash capital of $150,000. The company grew steadily, advancing its capital in 1857 to $200,000, and to $400,000 in 1S63. In January, 1864, its assets were $493,872. In the confla- grations of Chicago, in 1871, and Boston, 1872, it was caught, like other prominent companies, to the extent of a little over half a million dollars, and was forced to reduce its capital to $250,000, but in 1873 it returned to its 'previous amount, and in 1875 another $100,000 was added. In 1881 the capital was made a round million dollars. 'Phe Ih'esidents of the Hanover have been; John N. Wyckoff, 1852; S. H. Roken- baugh, 1856: Doras L. Stone, i860: Benjamin S. Walcott, i866; and I. Remsen Lane, [890. The Secretaries have lieen: John V. Harriott, 1852; /klexander McKie, 1853: Doras L. Stone, 1854: B. S. Walcott, 1859: I. Remsen Lane, i866; Charles L. Roe, 1890. The present officers are: Mr. Lane, President; Howard P. Gray, \hce-Presi- dent (also Manager of the Western Department, with headquarters at Chicago); Charles A. Shaw, Second Vice-President; Charles L. Roe, Secretary, and Joseph McCord, Assistant Secretary. The assets of the company, July i, 1895, ’^vere $2,423,355, and the net surplus $239,416. The total premiums received from the organization to the beginning of 1895 were $27,362,878. Losses paid, $15,485,725. Cash dividends paid to stockholders, $2,409,500, and a stock dividend of $100,000. The Hanover does business in nearly every State in the Union. It occupies its own building. No. 34 and 34j^ Pine Street, New York. This company has throughout the forty-four years during which it has been engaged in business commended itself to the favor of the insurance pulilic by the jiromptness with which all losses are settled, and its uniformly fair and honorable methods of dealing with the public. There is no corporation in the fire insurance business which can point to a more honorable record than that embraced in the years covered by the Hanover Insurance Company. Isaac Remsen Lane, President Hanover Lire Insurance Comjiany of New York, was born in New h’ork City in 1840. At present he is a resident of Orange, New Jersey. During his youth he secured a good practical education in Wkird School Number 12, New h’ork, and in 1855 passed the examination for entrance into what was then known as the “New ’^"ork P'ree xVeademv," now the “College of the City of New ^Mrk.” It was ordained, however, that he should not devote himself to a college THE UNDERWRITER. course, for before the term opened he was recpiested to fill temporarily the place of a clerk who had met with an accident. This was in the office of the Hamilton Fire Insurance Company of New \'ork, and instead of being there a few weeks, as expected, he continued with the company seven years, or until 1862. After a short period in the United States service during the Civil War, when he served as a member of the Seventh Regiment, New York State National Guards, during 1861-62-63, and the draft riots in New York City, in the last named year, he entered the employ of the Williamslnirg City h'ire Insurance Company as first clerk in its New York office, in 1863. In January of the following year he accepted a like position with the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, with which he has been identified ever since, making thirty-two years of continuous service. Upon the death of President Doras L. Stone, in 1866, the then Secretary, Benjamin S. Whdcott, was advanced to the presidency and Mr. Lane became Secretary. In the year 1877 the office of Vice-President was created and Air. Lane was elected to fill that position in addition to the duties and title of Secretary. In February, 1890, President Walcott died suddenly and Air. Lane was shortly afterward elected to fill the vacancy. He is well and favorably known as a financier and business man. Air. Lane’s tastes are of a literary nature and have special reference or bent to the study of the early history of our own country. He has never cared for political office, but has attended strictly to business, the various duties of the offices he has filled with the Hanover keeping him fully employed. Socially he is. a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution; Society of the Army of the Potomac; Grand Army of the Republic; the Grolier Glub and various historical societies. HOWARD P. GRAY VICE-rRESlDENT AM) GENERAL AGENT WESTERN DEPART.M EN l' OF THE HANOVER INSURANCE CO-MPANV. The life of any man is of great benefit to the community in which he resides when all his eflorts are directed toward its advancement, and when he is honest, upright and progressive. Howard P. Gray, A'ice-President and General Agent of the Hanover I'ire Insurance Gompany of New Wrk, is a gentleman who has steadily grown in pop- ularity with the company since his connection with it, and not only is he widely known in insurance circles but is a worthy and substantial citizen of the community in which he lives. He now makes his home at Evanston, Illinois. Air. Gray was born in Baltimore, Alaryland, December 17, 1840, and secured a good practical education in the private schools of that city. In 1861, when about twenty-one years old, he entered the United States Navy and revenue cutter service, and was thus engaged until 1870. Five years later he was with the Agricultural, New A’ork, l)ut in 1877 went with Alexander Stoddart, General Agent of the New A’ork Underwriters’ Agency, and, with the exception of about seven months, remained with him until 1893. So well was Air. (fray jiosted on insurance and so ably did he discharge the various duties devolving upon him that his services were recognized by other companies, and on the ist of July, 1893, he was made General Agent of the Western Department of the Hanover I'ire Insurance Company. On the ist of July of 1894 was made A'ice- 'r H E U N D E R W R I T E R. ‘J8 President of that organization, a position he now holds. Socially, Mr. Gray is a Thirty- second Degree Mason, Oriental Consistory of Chicago, and a member of the Lodge Chapter and Commandery at Evanston. He has spent a great deal of his life in trav- eling, and has been in every habitable ]'>art of the globe. In religion he is an Episcopalian and in politics a Democrat. October 5, 1869, he wedded Miss Imogen Skinner and of the three children born to them two are now living. THE HARTEORD EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. The history of the Hartford F'ire Insurance Company is in a great measure the history of the fire insurance in America taken at its best. This company is a con- servative one, conducted along perfectly safe lines, assuring protection to all parties at interest. It appears to business men as though it had personality, so familiar have they become with it and so much respect do they entertain for it. Unlike an individual it does not show evidence of age, l)ut on the contrary is more alive, more alert and more vigilant than it was eighty-six years ago. More than this, it is like wine which grows better with age. The affairs of the company were never in such good shape as now, and its foundations are as secure as could be desired by its most interested supporter. The Hartford was chartered by the legislature of 1810. and organized on June 27th of the same year, but its real origin is to be found as far back as the year 1794, when a private association, using the same name, issued policies through Sanford & Wadsworth, a firm of Hartford merchants. To understand this, it must be remembered that early insurance was largely an individual matter; one or more persons underwrote the policies and they or some third person placed the insurance. Unfortunately, little is known of the proceedings of the Hartford Eire Insurance Company of 1794. It was an unchartered organization and its records have not been preserved. The charter of the later organization provided for a capital of $150,000, ten per cent of which was to be paid in. The subscribers were generally solid men, but a more important fact was that the volume of business was small and that with reasonable good fortune the cash capital might be expected to more than meet all demands for some time to come. No loss occurred until 1812, and the total for that year was $112.10. In the year 1816 it was voted that the stockholders should pay twenty-five ]ier cent of their dues on the next renewal of their notes, and twenty-five per cent at each subseijuent renewal, until the “whole of the note was paid.” Another interesting item in the early history of the company was the vote passed at first meeting of the directors that the money in the bank should be withdrawn only on the check of the President, countersigned by the Secretary. 'I'he first President was Nathaniel Terry, and the first Secretary Walter Mitchell. Almost at the beginniim of its existence the Hartford saw the need of working through agents to develop business. In spite of the activity indicated by the appoint- ment of agents and other matters of record, the comjxiny did not make the progress in the second decade that had been hojied and expected. In 1835 several new members of the Board of Directors were elected and this board chose Eliphalet Terry President and James C. Hollos, Secretary. Under the new management there was an immediate improvement of business. The same year (1835) tame the news of the great fire of New 'S'ork. It caused a veritable panic; mcxst of the insurance companies confessed FIRE AND A R I N E. 99 themselves unable to meet their obligations, blere was a "reat opportunity for the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Terry and Air. l^ollos started in a sleigh for. New York. The journey was a difficult one, but it resulted in establishing a reputation for the Hartford which was invaluable. In the midst of the panic and distrust Mr. Terry announced that he was there to pay all losses of his company in full and to take new insurance. Right there he probably did the greatest stroke of business of his life. The company paid out for losses by this fire $64,973.54, but it gained a standing that was worth all that was lost. Between the years 1845 and 1849 the company sustained heavy losses, as it did between 1865 and 1866. Then after an interval of about five years occurred the disastrous fire of Chicago, followed in a little more than a year by that of Boston. At Chicago the Hartford was one of the first among the few companies that stood the shock to announce that all claims should be met in full. Whthin four months, and for the most part within ninety days, the company paid claims aggregating $ 1,933, 562.04, not one cent of which was paid under litigation. The great Boston conflagration comjfleted the destruction of some companies which had survived the Chicago fire. For losses in this fire the Hartford paid $485,316.71, and again j^roved its stability and its purj^ose to meet all demands promptly and fairly. Such a record is its own argument for integrity, ability and determination. Meantime some changes in the officers had taken place, for in 1849 President Terry resigned and was succeeded by Hezekiah Huntington, and in the following year Secretary liollos retired and his jflace was supplied l)y the choice of Charles Taylor. In 1852 the latter was succeeded by A. F. Whlmarth, who in six months was in turn succeeded by Timothy C. Allyn. Whth the beginning of 1864 Timothy C. Allyn was elected President, succeeding Mr. Huntington, who declined reelection, and George M. Coit became Secretary. In 1867 George L. Chase, for many years connected with insurance and railroad interests in the WTst, and for five years Assistant General Agent of the Hartford, was called from Chicago to assume the presidency, and has ably filled the position ever since. Air. Allyn having resigned to go to New A'ork. Since 1867 three secretaries have succeeded to the jiosition, viz. : J. I). Browne, Charles B. Whiting and P. C. Royce, who is the present incumbent. Since organization the Hartford has received total premiums amounting to $83,673,149, and has paid for losses $49, 763,332, the average loss ratio being about fifty-nine per cent. The tcRal cash dividends declared since organization amount to $8,013,100, while stock dividends to the amount of $950,000 have been made. In 1876 the capital stock was increased from $1,000,000 to $1,250,000, at which it has since remained. The assets for the year 1895 were $9, 229,213. the net surplus $2,900,894, the premiums $5,767,366, and the risks in force $707,465,610. From the company's records is given the ])remium receipts for every ten years, beginning with 1820. They are as follows: 1820, $5,000: 1830, $35,000; 1840, $142,000; 1850, $340,000; i860, $674,000; 1870, $1,605,000; 1880, $1,607,000; 1890, $3,126,000, and 1894, $5,767,366. ge()rc;k lewis chase PRESIDENT OE THE IIARTEORD EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. l''roin the biography of every man may be gleaned some lessons of genuine worth, for it is here that we discover the secret of his success or failure. It is the men of broad and comprehensive views who give life to communities and build cities, men who have foresight and energy, pluck and perseverance to push forward their enterprises and make a success of life, but who retain an untarnished reputation through it all. The name of George L. Chase leads the list of pushing, enterprising men of this class. Ills name is a familiar one, for since the year 1867 he has held the presidency of the Hartford Eire Insurance Company, and his underwriting ability and his executive force in that capacity are strikingly demonstrated in the marked success achieved by the company. It is something to be the executive olhcer of a corporation like the Hartford, and his career is worthy of emulation. Mr. Chase is a native of Massachusetts, born in Millbury, Worcester County, January ly 1828, and the son of Paul Cushing Chase, who was a lineal descendant of Atjuilla Chase, the first memlier of the family to settle in the United States. Aquilla Chase was born in Cornwall, England, and coming to this countrv settled in Hampton, iMassa- chusetts, in 1640. The links in the chain connecting the past with the present are- Acpuilla, iMoses, David, Daniel, Paul, Joshua and Paul Cushing. During his youth young Chase received thorough training in the regular English course of studies at Millbury Academy, and so well did he profit by this that, when desirous of engaging in business for himself, he was well ijualified to do so. His first introduction Jo the insurance business was when at the age of nineteen he became Local Agent in his native jdace for the Earmer’s Mutual Eire Insurance Company of Georgetown, Massachusetts. Subse(|uent!y he was elected a member of the Hoard of Directors. His energy and tact fitted him most admirably for an efficient canvasser, and he ojierated first through Southern Massachusetts and hiastern Connecticut. Within a short time his agency included four companies doing business on the mutual plan. One of this (]uartet, the Holyoke IMutual of Salem, is still successfully engaged in writing policies. In the year 1848 Mr. Chase became Traveling Agent for the People’s Insurance Company of Worcester, with which he remained until 1852, when he went west, having lieen apjiointed Assistant Superintendent of the Central Ohio Railroad Company. His ability was so apparent and his ideas so excellent that when a vacancy occurred he was advanced to the office of General Superintendent of the road. As he believed in the value of organization he was among the representatives who formed the first Association of Railroad Superintendents in the United States, a meeting for the purpose being held in Columbus in 1854. I'he business career he had first selected still kept its hold on his affections, and, in i860, Mr. Chase resumed his connection with the hre insurance business, acceiiting the Western Agency of the New England Eire Insurance Company of Hartford. After filling that position most ably for three years, he became part of that company with which the rest of his life was to be identified, by accepting the appointment of Assistant W’estern General Agent of the Hartford Eire Insurance Company. Mr. Chase has displayed ability of the highest order in all the jiositions he has occupied, and in the new field he at once attracted the attention and approval of the Hoard of Direetors. Just before he entered his fourth }ear of service, he was called from the W’est to assume the iiresitlency of the compau}-. The duties of his responsible 100 THE UNDERWRITER. 101 position were ^reat, and it was only after due reflection that Mr. Chase decided to accept. In June, 1867, he succeeded Timotliy C. Allyn as President. In carry injj; the institution successfully through the calamities of Chicago and P)Oston, his skill as a manager and his varied experience were early put to the test. His management of the company’s business has been unsurpassed and has placed him in the foremost rank of fire insurance representatives. Much of the company’s growth in the last (juarter of a century is due to his carefulness over details which often escape the notice of less careful managers. In the centennial year Mr. Chase was elected President of the National Board of UnderwritersT and is at present the Board Chairman of the Committee of Legislation and Taxation, by far the most important chairmanship in the organization. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and one of the \hce-Presidents of the Society for Savings, which is the largest savings bank in Connecticut: and is also a Trustee of the Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company, and a Director in the American National Bank. He is also a j)rominent member of the Hartford Board of Trade, and is thoroughly interested in the industrial develojnnent and prosperity of Hartford. In religious matters President Chase is a Congregationalist, member of Asylum Hill Church, Hartford, and has five times been elected President of the Connecticut Congregational Club. In June, 1892, an entertainment was given by the Hartford Fire Insurance Company to its employees, and the Secretaries, together with the General and Sjiecial Agents, presented Mr. Chase, with a silver loving cup, as a testimonial com- memorative of his twenty-fifth anniversary as President of the company. It was of uni(iLie design, with appropriate inscription, and very beautiful. Mr. Chase was married January 8. 1851, to Miss Calista M., daughter of Judson and Sarah B. Taft. Three children have been added to the family circle, a son and two daughters. The former, i\Ir. Charles E. Chase, is Assistant Secretarv of the com- pany of which his father is President. He married IMiss Helen S. Bourne and they have one daughter. I’resident Chase’s younger daughter died in 1866. The older married Mr. Charles H. Longley in 1874. She died in 1893. PHILANDER CHASE ROYCE SKCRETAkV OF THE irARTFORI) FIRE INSURANCE COMl’ANV. This gentleman represents modern progressive ideas and is not only a financier of recognized ability, but an authority on all matters relating to the history of insurance, with which he is especially familiar. His long association with the Hartford Fire Insurance Company has given him a thorough knowledge of its affairs, and no institution could have a more able secretary or a man more devoted to its interests. i\Ir. Royce is a product of the Ih'airie State, born in Plainfield, Illinois, in 1838. His present residence is at Hartford, Connecticut. His ixarents. Miles Royce and Sarah Goodhue Gilman Royce, were natives of Bristol, Connecticut, and Old Salem, Massachusetts, res]')ectively. The father’s birth occurred where several generations of his ancestors had made their home, and when only a boy he left that ]fiace for Western New York, going with an elder brother. In 1834 he went to Illinois, but not having the foresight to see that in a few years' Chicago would be the great metropolis of the WTst, he shook the mud of that embryo city off 102 THE UNDERWRITER. from him as soon as possible, and struck out across the swampy prairies for hi^h ground. H e located at what was then known as Walker’s Grove, now Plainheld, where he followed his business, that of manufacturing grain cleaning mills. llis wife was reared in M eredith Village, on Lake Winnipiscogee, where she remained until 1834 and then went West as a missionary teacher. She was married in January. 1837. She traces her family back to the first emigrants from England, in 1635. Philander C. Royce received his primary education in the village schools of his native place and finished in Galesburg, Illinois, graduating from Knox College in June, i860. Ilis early life did not differ materially from those of other boys reared in small villages. lie was taught to work at anything necessary for him to do and to make himself useful generally. lie was an inveterate reader, picking uj'> a book at every suitable time and at many times when his parents and friends thought unsuitable. His ambition was to secure a liberal education and become a teacher or a professor. As a consecjuence his first step after leaving college was to begin teaching school in his native village, his means not being sufficient to allow him to venture far from home. He decided on this vocation from the fact that he thought he could do better in it than at any other work. After wielding the ferrule for a year at his native place he secured a school in th.e village of Channahon (Indian meaning, Meeting of the Waters) where he remained between two and three years. From there he went to Joliet, the county seat of Will County, and there superintended the schools and' was principal of the High School, winning an enviable reputation as an instructor. Although he had met with unusual success in his chosen calling, Mr. Royce found that he had reached about as high a position as he could hoj')e to attain as a teacher. By this time, too, he began to aspire for a higher income than that paid to teachers and to wish for more independence than that which usually fell to the lot of an instructor of the young. In 1866 he was ofiered a small insurance agency business, already established, and he therefore resigned his position as teacher, and commenced the honorable and some- times more profitable business of a local agent. The first companies represented were the Liverpool and Londcn and Globe, the Ifiienix of Brookl_yn, the International of New York, and the Merchants of Chicago. Finding that the local business of the town was not sufficient to take his entire time, he made an engagement with the Merchants of Chicago to travel for a j)ortion of his time as Special Agent. He was to commence the I St of December, 1867, but a week before the time arrived he was thrown from a carriage, sustaining a bad compound fracture of the right leg. As a result he did not commence work until in March, 1868, when he was still obliged to use crutches. Al)Out 1870 he found that his entire time was taken as special agent and he disposed of his interest in the local agency business. In February of the following vear he moved to Chicago and up to the time of the fire there, in October. 1871, was engaged entirely in adjusting losses for the Merchants of Chicago and for the companies represented in their office. He witnessed the great fire and from that time until the 1st of May, 1872, was engaged in work on the ruins of the Merchants, with now and then a little attention to adjustment of losses for the St. Paul Fire and Marine. On the 1st of May, 1872, he began work for the Hartford Fire Insurance Comjiany under G. F. Bissell, General Agent, and remained with that company until August, 1876. He then accepted the position of Secretai'}' of the Girard I'ire and Marine, and removed to Philadelphia, where he remained until the 1st of July, 1881. He then 104 T IT I<: IT \ D E R W R I T E R. moved to Hartford, having accepted the iiosition of Assistant Secretary of the Hartford h'ire Insurance Company, and five years later was a})}«)inted Secretary of the company, a position he has since held. On the first call for three-months’ volunteers, Mr. Koyce jdaced his name on the roll of McAllister’s Battery, but as his younger brother insisted on going and the parents thought one son was enough to enter the service, Mr. Koyce remained at home. He has never sought political preferment but has tried to do his duty as a citizen, and in following that line has been a member of the Common Council for four years and for one year was I’resident of the Board. His travels have been confined almost wholly to business, and for years his mileage was from twenty-five to thirty thousand miles. Since that time he has made the most of every opportunity to stay at home. His father was a strong Episcopalian and his mother a Congregational Puritan. He was named for and christened by the first J 3 ishop of Illinois. W’hile residing in Joliet he and wife joined the Episcopal church and have since continued members of the same. He is now a vestryman of Trinity Parish of this city. In politics he has always been a Republican. In August, 1863, he married iMiss Cornelia Schermerhorn. Her grandfather was a slaveholder residing on the Hudson below Albany at the time the slaves were set free. Her father moved West about 1835 ^^id settled in Will County, Illinois. i\Ir. Koyce stands six feet high in his shoes, and his hair and l)card were black before the frost of time had touched them. THOMAS TUKNI 3 UEE. Thomas Turnbull, Assistant Secretary of the Hartford Eire Insurance Company, is an accomplished insurance man by taste and experience, and is not only recognized as an underwriter of ability, but a courteous gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet, a man of jnxictical ideas on all insurance affairs who conflhnes modesty with rare ability. He is a native of Scotland and has inherited all the sturdy characteristics belonging to those of that nativity. A desire to try his fortune in the New World caused him to leave home and friends and come to the United States, and here he has since made his home. While still but a young man he engaged in the foreign dry goods and commission business in Philadelphia, gained the entire confidence of his employers, and was sent by them to Europe several times to represent their interests. Subsequently he became a member of the firm of Merritt & Turnbull, and was engaged in the wholesale tea trade in the cities of New York and Philadelphia, meeting with fair success in this undertaking. Being possessed (d unbounded energy, sterling honest}’ and much ]ud)hc spirit, he achieved fair success in all his business ventures and became widely known and widely respected for his sterling (lualities. In 1869 he l)ecame connected with the insurance business, entering the service of the Niagara Eire Insurance Comj^any, with which he continued as special m New \’t)rk and New England for seven years. His reputation in this capacity became known to other companies with the result that, in 1876, Mr. Turnbull became connected with the Hartford h'ire Insurance Company as Ceneral Agent in New ^’ork State. Ten }ears later, or in the year 1886, he was aiipointed Assistant Secretarv at the home office, a position which he now holds with credit to himself and the company. Mr. 'rurnbull is man of decided opinion and withal a gentleman of fine social cjualities. CHARLES EDWAIH) CHASE. The life of Charles E. Chase, Second Assistant Secretary of the Hartford Eire Insurance Company, has been marked by deep conviction of duty, which has led him to conscientiously regard all trust reposed in him. Possessed of jn^aiseworthy ambition to succeed, he has applied himself with great diligence to the insurance business, seizing all opportunities for informing himself thoroughly as to minor details. This explains his ready grasp of the whole field of operation and the signal success that has attended his efforts. Mr. Chase was born in Dubuque, Iowa, March 29, 1857, and in 1863, when about six years old, he moved with his parents to Chicago, where he remained until 1867. Erom there the parents removed to Hartford, Connecticut. In this city young Chase’s education, which had begun in the West, was completed in the District and High Schools, from which he was graduated in 1876. In 1877 he entered the local agency of the Hartford Eire Insurance Company and continued in this until October, 1880, when he entered the home office of the company. In July, 1890, he was elected Second Assistant Secretary and has been a valuable acijuisition to the company’s staff. Aside from his duties in this capacity he has been deejily interested in city affairs, having been elected Councilman from the Eirst Ward in 1892, and the following year Alderman from the same ward. He served in the latter capacity for two years and to the satisfaction of all concerned. At the present time he is actively interested in a number of organizations and is President of the Hartford Board of Eire Underwriters, Director of the Hartford Bank, Clerk of the West IMiddle School District, Secretary of the I lartford Club and a member of the Republican Club. Mr. Chase is a Congregationalist in religion and a member of the Society’s Committee of the z\sylum Hill Congregational Church. He is a friend to every enterprise which tends to extend the influence of Hartford, and has proven himself an excellent and useful citizen. He selected his wife in the person of Miss Helen S. Bourne, and their marriage occurred in the year 1886. This union has been blessed by the birth of two children. Since the age of twenty i\Ir. Chase has been connected with the Hartford, and is thoroughly familiar with all that pertains to insurance. GEORGE ERANCIS BISSELL l.A'l’K GENERAI. AGENT WESTERN DERART.MENT 1 lARl'FORl) FIRE INSURANCE COMPANV. 'I'he sketch here given is a tribute paid to the memory of a man whose noble and honorable life was an example to all. George E. Bissell died as he had lived, a noble type of the true Christian gentleman. He was born in Manchester, Connecticut, June 2 2, 1827, and came of good Connecticut stock. He was the grandson of Russell Bissell, who, taking up arms as a minute man under Gen. Israel Putnam, died a major in the regular army after the war for Independence had closed. His great-grandfather, Ozias Bissell, was net only a soldier in the Continental arm}', but when the war for inde- ]iendence was declared was a veteran who had gallantly taken jiart in more than one colonial war. 'I'he grandfather on the maternal side, W'llliam W'ilson, was a Revolu- tionary soldier. With such a lineage as this he took active interest in the organization of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was one of the earliest ]iresidents of the societ}'. He was, as well, an active member of the Society of Colonial Wars, and took part in its organization and incorporation. 108 THE UNDERWRITER. Mr. I^issell was educated in his native town, and on attaining to man’s estate engaged in the mercantile business in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1 850 he decided to go to what was then the Far West, and settled in Dubiujue, Iowa, where, in connection with a brother, he entered the grocery and commission business. This he soon aban- doned to I)ecome the local agent for the State of Iowa, and then and there commenced his career as an underwriter, which he so eminently and successfully made his life’s work. In 1861 he came to Chicago and continued in the employ of the company as Sj:>ecial Agent under General Agent Alexander until May i, 1863, when he succeeded that gentleman as General Agent of the Western Department. At the time of his death Mr. Bissell had been continuously in the service of the Hartford for more than forty years. During the great fire in Chicago in 1871 he saw his company lose $2,000,000 in two days, but he at once set about adjusting the insurance losses and settling them satisfactorily and ecjuitably. He was the first insurance agent after the fire to open an office in the city and negotiate for new business for the Hartford, which had promptly met its losses in the fire. His business management at this time won the esteem and confidence not only of associates in the insurance business, but with the public generally, and made his one of the most popular and trusted agencies in the West. Mr. Bissell was a man of superior abilities, was possessed of great energy of character and tenacity of purpose, and as a public-spirited citizen he identified himself with enterju'ises that j^romoted the public interests of Chicago. He was one of the founders of the Union League Club, Vice-President in 1888 and President of the club in i88g, and was always foremost among its officers and members to advocate and promote plans looking to the business, political and moral welfare of the city. Not alone interested in business and the social concerns of life, Mr. Bissell was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and for years President of the Presby- terian Social Union, in which office he actpiitted himself as a genial, elocpient and witty speaker, as well as the promoter of many charities; far reaching and not wholly confined to the church. During the last ten years of his life he was treasurer of the Old People’s Home, and his business sagacity contributed greatly to its success. During his busy career in a busy community, and always time-driven by active charitable work, George F. Bissell found time for literarv effort, and contributed articles of commanding interest to insurance journals, as well as finished articles of a religious character to the Interior and other denominational papers. Mr. Bissell displayed untiring industry and fidelity in the discharge of the many and onerous duties devolving upon him as Manager of the company’s interests in his field. He possessed the confidence of the officers and directors in a high degree, and in all business matters intrusted to him, good judgment and unswer\ ing fidelity marked their consummation. His ability as an underwriter was always recognized by his associates in the profession, but to none was this fact better known than to those with whom daily intercourse was the rule. Broadminded and possessed of good common sense, he was always patient to hear and considerate to act in all the many and intricate business i^roblems submitted for his consideration and judgment. His devotion to the interests of the Hartford remains an inheritance and examjde for his brother (dficers to emulate. Tlie high esteem in which Mr. Bissell was held by his associate underwriters was greatly in evidence at the memorial meeting held soon after his death. Several took the oj^portunity to speak 110 T M E U N D E R W R I T E R. of the life and career of Mr. Bissell. Colonel R. J. Smith characterized him as a leading spirit in whatever he undertook. He referred to Mr. Bissell’s pure life, honesty of purpose and ability. Abram Williams said the deceased was a model as a man, citizen, underwriter and worker, and spoke of his connection in every good work. Eugene Cary said: “He belonged to our ranks, but he was above us. A larger gulf is left because he has passed away. He was a man of strong mentality and resolute purpose.” S. M. Moore spoke of the departed as a rounded-out citizen and business man; a true, genial gentleman; a pioneer of Chicago underwriters; a strong man and a leader. Others told of his striking characteristics. He was a devoted husband, a kind father and a loyal friend. PORTER P. HEYWOOD LATE GENERAL AGENT WESTERN DEPARTMENT HARTEORD EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. The life of the man whose honored memory claims this tribute presents an example of usefulness and worthiness the contemplation of which serves as an inspiration to those who seek to deserve respect and love while living and veneration after death. His life's work is hnished, its fruits garnered and the record of its incidents remains to tell the story of worthy success in living. He died at his home in Chicago, April 28, 1896, after a brief illness of only five days. Eor years Mr. Heywoed had been connected with the Hartlord Fire Insurance Company, being first made adjuster of the Western Department in January, 1866. Two years later he became associated with Charles H. Case in the supervision of the affairs of the Insurance Company of North America, and in November, 1869, was appointed General Agent of the Pacific Coast DepartmeJit of the Hartford, locating at San Fran- cisco. In 1872 Mr. Hey wood was transferred by the company from that field to Chicago as Assistant General Agent of the Western Department under General Agent George E. Bissell. Upon the death of Mr. Bissell in June, 1895, Hey wood succeeded to the general agency and continued in that position until his death. Mr. Heywood was a native of Westminster, Massachusetts, and was sixty-seven years old at the time of his death. He came of good New England ancestry. In the puldic schools of his native town he received his education and in that village remained until 1855, wdien he came West and for several years was engaged in the vocation of a teacher, being Principal of the public schools of Aurora, Illinois. In 1864 he came to Chicago and was engaged in the local fire insurance business in the office of Moore & Stearns. Afterward, as above mentioned, he became connected with the Hartford. Ph'om this time onward Mr. Heywood was an important factor in the insurance business of the Northwest and was a man of recognized ability. His long connection with the business of the Western Department of the Hartford extended over a period of thirty years, and during that time his uniform kindness and courtesy in all his business and social relations endeared him to all. He was prominent in all matters relating to insurance, and gave freely of his time and abilities in jiromoting the best methods of underwriting in the West. All may profit by the example of his noble life and by his devotion to the great interest which he represented with a loyalty that knew no limit. llis activity and inlluence were not alone confined to underwriting, but were present in other fields. He was a member of the Ibiity Church, Chicago Eiterary Society, the 112 T H E U N i:» E R W I T E R. Art Institute, Massachusetts Society, Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revo- lution, and of the Mar(|uette and Union League Clubs, of which last he was recently \hce-President. He left a wife and two sons — John P. Heywood, who is engaged in the lumber business in Chicago, and Henry B. Heywood, Special Agent for the Hartford for the State of Indiana. Mr. Heywood was an upright Christian citizen, a gentleman of jHiblic spirit and a wise business man. At a largely attended meeting of the Chicago Underwriters’ Association, soon after his death, feeling tril)ute to the worth and memory of the deceased was paid in l)rief remarks l)y Charles H. Case, Thomas S. Chard, E. B. Case, R. S. Critchell, Ifugene Cary, R. W. Hosmer, R. j. Smith, John J. Janes, L. II. Da\is, Thomas P2. h'ry and President Teall. A telegram of sympathy from R. M. Bissell, absent from the city, and an appreciative communication from J. W. G. Cofran, Assistant General Attent of the Hartford, were also read. A committee, consistiim of C. II. Case, Irugene Cary, John J. Janes, R. J. Smith and Thomas IC Fry, reported the following memorial, which was adopted by a rising vote; “Again we are called together because another honored fellow-laborer has departed this life to enter a higher one above. The command came to our brother ‘Rest from thy labors. Come up higher and behold what mortal man hath not seen or human hearts have not conceived.’ Our hearts are sad. We all feel that we have lost a true and noble friend. Many of us already have more friends on the other than on this side. Another fadeless picture of a noble life hangs upon our memories’ walls, to urge us onward to better things here and remind us that our picture will be in the same gallery soon. “'Fhe influence of such a true, large-hearted man cannot be easily t)verestimated. He never seemed to lose the freshness and sincerity of a child’s heart. Simple, unassuming, and yet with strong convictions as to duty and faithfulness to every trust placed upon him, he never lost sight of the importance of right decisions and correct action on all subjects involving the welfare of humanity. He was ciuick and happy to respond to charity, ready for duty, no matter what personal sacrifice this might mean to him. He was sunshine to the desjwnding: hopeful, confiding, sympathetic and wise toward the young men, coun- seling, restraining and leading them on to nobler lives. His cherished feelings were kindness, love and forebearance to the erring. “He thus enriched his own character by a noble generosity to his fellow men. He passes onward and upward, while we tarry a little longer, and while we tarry we strive to imitate his generous, considerate habit of thought and action, and approximate to such true and noble living as was so manifest in his life.” JOHN WILLIAM GUNNISON COFRAN ASSOCIATE GENERAL AGENT OF ITIE WESTERN DEPARTMENT OF I'lIE nARTF(.)RI) FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. ^h)uth is not a bar to promotion, for the American people have learned that ability is not measured by the length of time a man has spent upon earth. Some men might live a thousand years and never know anything, and others are bright and aide to take their places among men long before they arrive at mature manhood. John Mb G. Cofran. Associate General Agent of the Ilartlord h'irc Insurance Company, is of the r 1 1 K UNI) E W R r T E R. 1 14 latter class. For many years now he has been interested in insurance, and his knowledge of this, close attention to details and energetic methods are securing for the comj^ianv marked expansion of business in the Western Department, of which he has charge. Mr. Cofran is a product of New Hampshire, born at (foshen, June 13, 1855, but now resides in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Ste]')hen Benjamin Cofran and Alma Jane Cofran. His ancestors came to America as early as the year 1623 and soon after settled in New Hampshire. Like many another successful man i\Ir. Cofran hails from the farm, where between the rows of young corn he learned habits of industry and jierseverance which have remained with him through life. He received the rudiments of an education in the district school and later took a thorough course in Kimball’s Union iVcademy, at Meriden, New Hampshire. Believing that there was more in store for him than a life on the farm promised, or at any rate that he could find employment more congenial, young Cofran made his way to the Bacihc Coast and landed in San Francisco with fifteen dollars in his pocket. He first commenced as office boy with the Commercial Insurance Company of California, October 16, 1874, and occupied various positions in both the fire and marine department until Sejitember, 1879, when he was appointed Special Agent and Adjuster by the Commercial, for Oregon, Washington and Idaho, with headquarters at Portland, Oregon. In July, 1881, Mr. Cofran was appointed Special Agent and Adjuster for the Hartford, for the same territory, and represented both companies from that time until May I, 1886, when he was a}ipointed as Associate Manager with Mr. Henry K. Belden, for the Pacific Department of the Hartford. He then closed the Northwest Department and removed to San Francisco, charging all the local agents to report there instead of Portland as previously. In the month of August, 1895, he removed to Chicago, being appointed Assistant General Agent of Western Department. On the ist of June. 1896, he was appointed Associate General Agent with Mr. K. M. P>issell for the Western Department. In the year 1882 Mr. Cofran joined the Masonic fraternity, but he is a member of no other secret organization. He is lil)eral in his religious views. In politics he is an ardent Republican and always expects to adhere to that party. He has been twice married, first to Miss Catherine Gunnison, June, 1879, and after remaining a widt)wer five years was wedded to Aliss Mary C. Conroy in july, 1889. Now, while still a comparatively young man, Mr. Cofran is holding one of the first j)ositions in fire insurance — though but few men are called to the revolving chair until well into middle life. He is an underwriter and an executive, practical, thorough, strong in the uptake. While in San Francisco he served as \’ice-Ih'esident and Chair- man of the bixecutive Committee of the Fire Underwriters of the Pacihc. He was also a member of the Pacific Union, Olymjuc and the Merchants’ Clulcs, of the Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ bixchange, and is a member of the l^nion League Club oi Chicago. RICHARD M. BISSFLL ASSOCIA'l'K GKNKRAl, ACU-.N'l' OF 'l lIK WFSTFRX I )F1“A R'lM KX'l' OF I'llK HAR'I'FORI) FIRK FXSFRAXCF C( IMI'AX V. The )’ounger Pitt, had his lot been cast in the United States in this day and generation, would not have found it necessary to defend himself against the "atrocious THE UNDER W R I T E R. IK) crime of being a young man,” as charged against him because of his precocious mental development. In this Republic there is no prejudice against a man merely because he chanced to develop in advance of the conventional idea as to time of maturity, but on the contrary it is more likely that the fact will be used as a cause of rewarding his ability by promoting him to places of trust and honor. Richard M. Bissell, Associate General Agent of the Western Department of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, with head(}uarters at Chicago, is a son of the late George F. Bissell, and was born in Chicago in 1862. Graduating from Yale College, he entered the local fire insurance agency of Moore & Janes, of Chicago, and subseciuently took subordinate position in the Western Department of the Hartford Fire. Later he became a Special Agent, to gain a knowledge of the field. Returning to the department offices, he was placed in charge of the special hazard and large city business. August, 1895, President Chase appointed him to the position of Second Assistant General Agent, and June i, 1896, he was appointed Associate General Agent with Mr. J. W. G. Cofran for the Western Department. Mr. Bissell, like his illustrious father, is retiring and meditative, saying less than he thinks. He is also like him in the thoroughness of his labors and in his grasp of affairs. All are agreed that he has a future which he himself has earned and is earning. He is a memlier of the University, Literary and Onwentsia Clubs. HENRY KENEY BELDEN GKNKUAL AGENT OF THE I’ACIKIC COAST DEI’AR'l'M ENT OF THE IIARTEORD EIRE INSURANCE COMl’ANV. It is a ]deasure and privilege to record the character and enterprise of men of business, who, on account of their long tenure and extensive operations comprise almost a history of the business in which they are engaged. Of such men it is unnecessary to speak in words of colored praise. “By their acts ye shall know them.” Their very existence is emphatic evidence of the honorable position they occupy and the long course of just dealing that they have pursued. Henry K. Belden, Pacific Coast Manager for the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, is familiar with all branches of fire insurance, and is thus well e(|uipped for his work. He entered the local agenc}' office of the Hartford in Milwaukee in 1864, and has since been in the service of that company. i\Ir. Belden is a native of New York City, born in 1849, but his youthful days were passed in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received a good, practical education. P'or two years he was in the local agency office of the Hartford, but in 1866 he went into the Western Department office in Chicago, where he remained three years. In 1869 he became head clerk in the San Fiancisco office and in 1878 Local Agent in that city. In 1880 he became Special Agent and Adjuster, and in 1886 was appointed, with Mr. Cofran, Manager of the Ikicific Coast Department. In i 8()5, Mr. Cofran being transferred to Chicago as Assistant General Agent of the Western Department, Mr. Belden became the sole Manager of the Pacific Coast Department of the Company, with Whitney Palache as Assistant Manager. i\Ir. Belden is now a resident of Oakland, California, and is Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the I'irst Presbyterian Societ}' of that city. He is a man of fine business sense and judgment, and has thorough accpiaintance with the great interests of insurance which enters so closely into the life of all business. WHITNEY PALACHE ASSISTANT (iKNKRAI, ACKNT OK Tilt: PACIFIC COAST DEPARTMENT OK THE HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. Whitney Palache was liorn in San Erancisco in iS66. In 1882 he entered the University ol California, intending to (]ualify himself for the profession of the law, but after two years of creditalile work he v/as compelled by ill health, at the end of his sophomore year, to abandon his studies, and, looking aliout for a business career, he was attracted by insurance, which seemed to offer congenial occupation. lie soon after secured a subordinate position in the office of the Union Insurance Company of California (since absorbed by the Alliance), and rapidly rose to the position of Special Agent, a }X)st he acceptably occupied from 1888 to 1890, when he severed his connection with the pinion, and took a similar position with the Hartford, his territory being the Northwestern States of the Ikicihc Department of that company, with headcjuarters at Portland, Oregon. That his services were appreciated is jiroven by the fact that when, in July, 1895, Mr. J. W. G. Cofran, Associate Manager with Mr. II. K. Belden for the Pacihc De]iartment, was transferred to Chicago, leaving Mr. H. K. Belden Manager, Mr. Palache was ap}iointed that gentleman’s Assistant, in which jxisition he continues acceptably to serve his company. Mr. Palache’s career so far gives evidence that he made no mistake in his selection of a vocation, and the brilliant use he has made of his opportunities gives promise of a bright future. In 1892 Mr. Palache married a daughter of Hon. John Garlier, and resides with his wife and children in a charmingly located home on Claremont Avenue, in Berkele}’. GEOEGh: S. A. DOPING. By a most thorough knowledge of his business, gained step I)y stejr, George S. A. Young, of the hrm of Young A Hodges, Managers of the Aletrojiolitan Department of Hartford P'ire Insurance Comjiany, at 50 Wall Street, New York, has built uji an excellent reputation in insurance circles. It would be hard to hnd a man better posted on this suliject than Mr. '^Mung, who has been connected with the above company for many years and who has won the regard of all by his thorough, conscientious work. Mr. Young is a native of Providence, Rhode Island, liorn .April 5, 1851, and in that city received his scholastic training. At the early age of fifteen he entered the home office of the Hartford P'ire Insurance Piompany, first as office boy, and served in various positions, most conscientiously, for a iieriod of twenty years. Possessed of excellent ability, grafted upon a stock of sturdy honesty, he also possesses a goodly degree of those kindly attributes that spring from a kindly heart, an honest jnirpose and a broad liberality. In the month of July, i886, Mr. ^'oung was appointed Special Agent for the Hartford, for Piastern New ’N’ork, with headtpiarters at Albany. "Phis position he filled most satisfactorily until Januar\’, 1889, when he was apjiointed Assistant iManager of Metro|)olitan Department, and November i, 1891, was made senior member of the hrm of Young & Hodges, a jiosition he now holds. HOME INSURANCE COMPANY OE NEW YORK. Among the old and substantial insurance companies of the PJnited States the “llome” takes a prominent place. This company was organized April 13, 1853, under act of April 10, 1849, the original capital being $500,000. The charter authorized hre and inland marine insurance, both of which were prosecuted by the company until 1870, when the latter was discontinued. On the 15th of July, 1858, the capital was increased to $600,000, under act of June 25, 1853, and under the same act the amount was increased to $1,000,000, Eebruary 19, 1859. The capital was doubled in amount December 31, 1863, and an additional increase of half a million was ordered jul}' 13, 1870, making the total $2,500,000. The last increase was made January 23. 1875, amount being $500,000, and since that date the capital has remained at $3,000,000. Of the total increase $1,000,000 was realized from stock dividends. The first President of the company was Simeon L. Loomis, and the original Secretary was Charles J. Martin. During the year 1854 Roe Lockwood was temporary President, but was succeeded in 1855 by Charles J. Martin, who retained the office until Eebruary 14, 1888. His death occurred May 9th, following his resignation. April 2, 1888, Daniel A. Heald became President of the company. The Secretaries of this company from 1855 to 1888 were A. E. Willmarth, J. Milton Smith, John McGee and John H. Washburn, the latter filling that position for twenty-one years, including two years as Vice-President and Secretary, relinquishing the latter title in 1888, when he became Vice-President, which position he still retains; in the same year Elbridge G. Snow, Jr., was made Vice-President, W. L. Bigelow and T. B. Greene, Secretaries, and H. J. Eerris and A. M. Burtis, Assistant Secretaries. This company has assumed colossal business proportions and has agencies in every city, large and small, in the country. Erom the first it has had the benefit of the best underwriting talent to be found, a marked feature in the management of this company being the long years of service given it by each of its principal officers, a condition contributing largely to the phenomenally steady growth and progress of the organization, the results achieved evincing capacity of high order in the selection and instruction of trustworthy field and agency representatives, as well as in the careful “selection and inspection” of its large business. The premiums received since organization aggregate $111,056,294; losses paid, $66,885,843; cash dividends, $9,715,000; stock dividends, $1,000,000. DANIEL ADDISON HEALD PRESIDENT IIO.ME INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Cordial in manner, apt in expression and full of the knowledge gathered in many years of intelligent observation, one seldom meets a more interesting man than Daniel Addison Heald, President of the Home Insurance Company and a leading fire under- writer of the United States. He is a native of the Green Mountain State, born in the town of Chester May 4, 1818, and is descended from old Puritan stock, of PEiglish origin. The progenitor of the Heald family in America came here in the year 1635 from Berwick, Phigland, and was among the first settlers in Concord, Massachusetts. Ambitious to obtain a thorough education. Daniel A. I leak! lost no opportunity to 120 1 THE UNDERWRITER. improve his mind during his youthful days. lie applied himself faithfully to his books and with excellent results as his subsecjuent history proves. lie hrst attended the schools of his native town and later the preparatory school at Meriden, New Hampshire, where he remained two years. From this institution he entered Yale College and was graduated with honors in 1841, w'hen twenty-three years old. During his senior year at \'ale, he read law and was admitted to the bar of \Yrmont in May, 1843. While jHirsuing his legal practice he also conducted an insurance business in which he met with such decided success and won such an excellent reputation that, in 1856, the Home Insurance Company of New York invited him to become its General Agent. I'his olfer he accepted and entered actively on his work in New York City, where he soon demonstrated the fact that he thoroughly understood insurance matters and that he had the company’s interests at heart. For twelve years he served the Home as General Agent and was then, in 1868, chosen Second \’ice-President, a position he filled until 1883, when he was made First ^'ice-lh■esident. On the 2d of April, 1888, he succeeded Mr. Martin as President. At an early period of his career in the insurance field he realized that the suc- cessful conduct of hre insurance business depended upon its mastery as a science, well knowing that no one can know it too much to conduct it successfully. Mr. Heald is not only a lawyer, but chemist, architect, hnancier and an excellent judge of men, and of values of all things insurable. He has investigated with great care the causes of fire and the means and appliances for prevention and extinction. Possessed of more than ordinary executive ability, keen perceptions and a superior mind, it is seldom that a more able or efficient man is jdaced at the head of a great company. Mr. Heald lias conducted the business of the Home Insurance Company so as to take care of the policy-holders as well as the stockholders 'and obtain fair rates in face of all competition. x\fter the great Portland hre of 1867, he was one of the prime movers in the organization of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, of which im- jiortant organization he had served either as chairman of the executive committee or president, holding the latter office from 1881 to 1890 inclusive. He was also President of the New York Board of Underwriters in 1876 and 1877. Honored and respected by all who know him, active and alert, dispatching business easily and rapidly, no name has become more deeply impressed on the history of hre insurance in America than his. Born in 1818, he has passed the limit of threescore years and ten. Threescore years and ten! But what }'ears they ha\'e been. The last half century is the best half century of the world’s history. Now that this glorious nineteenth century is growing old, Mr. Heald may fairly claim that he has had at least some share in its growth and development. JOHN HFNKY \YASHBURN X'ICE-l’RESTDKNT OE HOME IXSUR.WCE COMP.VXV OE XEW VORK, A man who by strength of character and mental powers rises to eminence in the enterprises in which he engages is a monument to the ca}iabilities of his race. Such a man is John II. W ashburn, who fen' the last fortv vears or more has been continuously engaged in the business of fire underwriting and is now \hce-President of the Home Insurance Company of New York. Commencing at the lowest round of the fire insur- t 124 THE UN D E R WRITE R. ance ladder, he has successfully worked his way upward through all of its gradations, to his present enviable position, which he hlls so capably. Mr. Washburn is a native of Amherst, Massachusetts, born October 27, 1828, and the son of Rev. Royal Washburn and Harriet W. (Parsons) Washburn. The Washburns trace their ancestry in America back t'' John Washbourne, who was first Secretary of the “Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay.” This family is also descended from Francis Cooke of the Ma)'fiower. Young Washburn's education was received in Amherst Academy, Williston Seminary and Amherst College, and for some time after leaving the latter institution he studied law at Rutland, Vermont, and Granville, New York. In the year 1851 he became a clerk in the office of the Washington County iMutual Fire Insurance Company, of Granville, New York, where he took his first lessons in the rudiments of the business. After this, at different times, he was in a fire and life in- surance agency at Meriden, Connecticut, and was Secretary of Bridgeport Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Even from the first his ideas of the business were so in advance of the times as to demonstrate the breadth of his grasp of the needs of his adopted profession, as well as his legal acumen, and stamped him as a born underwriter. Close application to business soon undermined a never very robust constitution and he was obliged to resign and go South in search of health. Fully restored to health in eighteen months he returned and in 1859 I^ecame connected with the “Home” as its agency clerk and correspondent, where his abilities as an underwriter had full scope, carrying him on very rapidly in the esteem and confidence of his employers and placing him in the position of Assistant Secretary in 1865. In 1867 he was made Secretary, and in this capacity displayed such marked skill and ability as to entitle him to the vice-presidency in 1 888. Mr. Washburn has many and strong friends among the members of the insurance fraternity, by whom he is justly held in high esteem as one of the most capable and progressive underwriters of the times. He is a prominent member of the New Yt)ik Board of Fire Underwriters, of which he has been Chairman of the Committee of Sur- veys and on Water Supply, and President of the Board, in which positions his broad experience and matured judgment have been of incalculal)le value toward the success of the organization. Although naturally of a retiring disposition 'Sir. Washburn is pos- sessed of very quick perceptions, is ready of resource in time of emergency, and is a rapid, cogent reasoner. No one who has had occasion to meet him in business transac- tions has ever had cause to complain of a lack of courteous consideration. Mr. Washburn is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of Mayflower Descendants, Order of Founders and Patriots of America, and a Freemason. For years he has been a member of the Congregational Church, and is a corporate member of the American Board tor Foreign ^Missions, member of Board of Managers American Bible Society, and is President of the Congregational Club of New York City and vicinity. In the year 1853 he married Miss Jane Ives of New Haven, Connecticut, a descendant of William Ives, one of the founders of the colonv. They have one son, William Ives Washburn, a lawyer of New York. ELP>KIl)CxE C;ERKY SNOW VICE-l’RESIDKNT OF THE HOME INSURANCE COMI’ANV OF NEW YORK. With a galaxy of able and efficient lire underwriters in charge of the various dejiartments, it is no longer an enigma how the Home Insurance Company, of New York, has attained and continues to retain its present high standing, hnancially and otherwise, among the fire insurance offices of the country, both foreign and domestic. Prominent among these is Elbridge Gerry Snow, who is now occupying the hom)rable and responsible chair of the Vice-President of the Home, a station he has attained while yet in the prime of life and for which his great experience eminently fits him. Mr. Snow owes his nativity to the State of Connecticut, his birth having occurred in Ifarkhamsted, January 22, 1841, and when but an infant he accompanied his parents, Eldridge Gerry Snow, Sr., and Eunice Woodruff Snow, to Waterbury, Connecticut, where the father found a successful field for the practice of medicine. Young Snow finished his education at Fort Edward Institute, Fort Edward, New York, and after his return to Waterbury began the study of law, which, however, he relinquished to enter as clerk the busy agency office of John W. Smith, who has represented many of the larger insurance companies, domestic and foreign. Desiring a more extended field of operation Mr. Snow left there about 1862 and made his way to New York City, where he entered the office of the Home, which was then one of the principal companies of the Smith agency. Until 1871 he remained with the Home, after which he became interested in an agency firm in the city for a couple of years, but again returned to the Home office, and soon after was made State Agent for Massachusetts, with heachjuarters in Boston. There he organized the firm of Hollis & Snow, whose able management largely increased the companies business. During his incumbency as State Agent. Mr. Snow’s capacity for management and his success in building up a large and profitalile business in a field so well garnered as Massachusetts claimed the attention of the company, and as a result he was called from the field and made Assistant Secretary. In 1888, upon the promotion of Mr. Washburn to the vice-presidency, Mr. Snow was also advanced to the position of \dce-President and Director of the company, the arduous duties of which he has discharged with marked ability. Mr. Snow is a man of robust and fine physique, and is of a genial, hearty disposition. He is intellectual, companionable, a true friend, an excellent citizen, and withal a skilled underwriter. The Home Insurance Company, with which he has been so long and intimately connected officially, is one of the largest of the American fire insurance offices, and is a successful contestant with the foreign branch offices for the fire business of the country. Although deeply interested in the affairs of the company, Mr. Snow does not lose sight of his duties as a loyal citizen, and gives his sujiport and encouragement to all desirable enterjnises. In the year 1861 he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd b'cllows, and he is also a member of the Wteran Firemen’s Society of New ^'ork, New ^Trk Geological Society, New Ivngiand Society, iMetropolitan Museum of Art, New 'N’ork, and American Museum of Natural History, New York. His travels have been limited to this country. From \outh in') he has been in full accord with the Protestant hfpiscopal Church. In }X)litics he has been a Ivepublican for years, and takes a deej< interest in the welfare of his jiarty. Mr. .Snow’s hajqyv domestic life began September s, 1865, when he wedded Miss b' ranees Janet Thompson. This union has been blessed by the birth of one child, a son. Elbridge Gerr}* Snow, Jr. 12(i II. II. WALKER iMANACiKR WKSTERN FARM DEPARTMENT OE THE HOME IN.SURANCE COMPANY OE NEW YORK. Quoting his own M’ords, we will say that in Mr. Walker's life there has been but little, if any, of what might be called the fortuitous. Changes came, it is true, but the new duties were performed and new priYileges enjoyed, in measure according to ability and the training he had previously received. Me was born in a log cabin on a farm in Rush County, Indiana, in 1839, of good parentage, and reared in a good, \vholesome atmosphere, where disciplined firmly but kindly, his career was started well. The early years of his life, the first fifteen, were without opportunities for mental culture other than those afiorded by a very common sort of common country school. Access to books or to newspapers and periodicals was limited, but there was the clear, beautiful skv, the woodland and field, and the thousand and one charms of nature so conducive to healthful growth of bod}', mind and soul. Above all he had the daily example of manly and womanly industry to imitate, for all lal)ored. The leisure class was not there. When fifteen years old Mr. Walker left the farm and entered upon service in a country store where the foundation of his business education was laid. I'or his services the first year he received forty-eight dollars and board. With the exception of one year spent in railroading, and another year at school, where he pursued a course of instruction in commercial law and the science of accounts, Mr. Walker was engaged ten years in merchandising. This training was a broad one and he had to do with mercantile transactions of a wide range. When twenty years old, while engaged in merchandising, he wrote his first insurance policy, for the ^Titna. From twenty to twenty-five he represented as local a"ent in addition to the /Etna, the Phoenix of Hartford, the Hartford, the old Man- hattan, and the Security of New York. When twenty-five he entered the employ of the Security as a Special Agent, in Illinois, and continued for one year, when he engaged with the Home of New York as an adjuster, traveling out from New York City. January 1, 1867, he tocdv charge of the Home’s State Agency in Indiana, and during his management in that state the company's premiums advanced from 540,000 per annum to over $250,000. July i, 1887, he was called to the management of the company's Western Farm Department, at Chicago, to which, in October, ' 1 893, the sub-ao'ency mercantile business of the Western States was added. November i, 1894, the general supervision of the company’s entire business in the State of Illinois, including Chicago, was also placed in his hands. Thus it may be seen that Mr. Walker has been in the employ of the Home thirty years and is a man of acknowledged business capacity, rich experience, and being in the very prime of life he has, with reasonable expectancy, many years of usefulness yet before him. Wdiile of course greatly absorbed with his business profession, Mr. Walker has found time to give a good deal of attention to general literature, and has been in close touch with the great work of Christian benevolence and Christian education. Mr. Walker is not now and never was a partisan, or strict party man. For many years he has voted with the Republican ixirty, yet is indej)endent and free to vote his sentiments, regardless of party lines. ' He was reared under an orthodox theology of the strictest kind, yet at an early age he Idled his mind with \ie\vs of life, here and hereafter, that enabled him to feel comfortable when any good man or woman went hence, whether of church roll or of the outside. In a word, with him, “conduct is at least three-fourths of life,” regardless of creed. As a means to an end he is an enrolled member of an orthodox church, and much enjoys all lines of church and benevolent work. 12s CxKNKKAL ARTHUR CHARLES DUCAT FORMKRLV GENERAL ACIEXT AM) ONE OE THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT _\E\NAGERS OE HOME INSURANCE COMPANY, NEW YORK. The drama of a man’s life — the tragic, the comic and the pathetic, playing their parts in the shifting scenes — is not only a deep and wonderful study, but it is by this study alone that we can become well informed in the philosophy of life. If we would understand what heroism is, we must study the lives of heroes. In this respect, as in all others, we hnd no one more worthy of mention or whose life of usefulness is more worthy to be chronicled than General Arthur C. Ducat. At the outbreak of civil war he was almost unknown; but stirring times bring strong men to the front. Like many others who attained prominence during that stir- ring period, his lot in youth gave no hint of the honors that a strong intellect, fairly used, coupled with unwearying industry, was to bring him. General Ducat w'as born in Dublin, Ireland, February 24, 1830, being the youngest son of iMungo Moray Ducat, of Cupar Angus, Scotland, and Dorcas Julia Ducat. Two strains of Celtic blood were in him — the French and the Irish — and gave to his nature that dash and impulsiveness which characterized his career both as citizen and soldier. When nineteen years old he emigrated to the United States alone, his purpose being to follow the profession of civil engineer. This he abandoned when tendered the position of Secretary and Chief Surveyor of Underwriters of Chicago. In this position he remained until i86i, when he left a young family, a mother depending upon him for sujiport, and a lucrative position, to enlist as a private. He was without political, governmental or family influence of an}' kind. He entered the 12th Illinois Infantry, and was among the first to seize the important strategic point of Cairo. It was not long before his military ac(|uirements and capacity were recognized, and within a month he was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and later Adjutant of the regiment. Following this he received the appointment of Captain, then Major, and after his brilliant exploits at Donelson \vas mentioned in general orders for gallant conduct. In April, 1862, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of his regiment, and in August of the same year was placed in command of the grand guards, pickets and outposts of the Army of Tennessee, at Corinth, Mississippi. After the liattle of Stone River he was appointed Inspector-General of Armv of the Cumberland and the Department, and served in all the campaigns of this army, under both Generals Rosecranz and Thomas, and was beloved by all. His record shows that he was constantly selected for positions calling for practical military knowledge and efficiency and the most important trust and conhdence. Much, very much, is neces- sarily omitted from this sketch, of his experience in the Civil W’ar, but that he was an officer of high standing and distinguished merit is well known. iMilitary honors followed him, however, into civil life. He was made a brevet Brigadier-General in 1866 and in 1878 an officer of the first class in the Loyal Legion. Governor Beveridge appointed him to the command of the National Guard of Illinois with the rank of iMajor-General, and General Ducat had a large jiart in preparing the code for the government of these forces. In 1879 he resigned this commission. The Home Insurance Company of New York appointed him in 1865 to supervise its business in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, and shortly afterward he became its Agent and General Agent in Chicago, with an extended held. His career as an underwriter was eminently successful, his popularity and his aciiuaintance throughout the W est being 130 182 THE UNDERWRITER. of much advantage to this old, strong and honorable company, of whose Western De- partment he was an Associate Manager in the well-known firm of Ducat & Lyon for twenty years. His name as an underwriter, in the states tributary to Chicago, was so closely interwoven whth the “Home” that the fame of the managers and the company became co-extensive. The business under their control was always profitable and suc- cessful. His death, which occurred January 29, 1896, was the occasion of universal sorrow, all realizing the loss sustained by the departure of such a man. The Under- writers’ Association met soon after his death and the following is a part of the memorial placed on the record of the Association; “The underwriters of this city were yesterday shocked to hear of the death of our friend and fellow? underwriter, Arthur C. Ducat — a warm-hearted, generous, noble, Christian man, one w?hose life was never tainted by anv conduct that w?as unmanly or unprofessional.” General Ducat was thrice married and the father of seven children. GEORGE M. LYON F(.)RMERLY (IF.XERAf, ACIENT AND ONE OE THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT ^E4NA^.ERS OE THE HO.ME INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEAY ^'ORK. Popular, efficient and faithful, such w?ould be the verdict passed upon the character and standing of George M. Lyon, l)y any sensible citizen of Chicago, of w'hom the (Question might be asked. Possessed of praisew'orthy ambition to succeed, Mr. Lyon has applied himself with great diligence to the insurance business and has seized all opportunities for informing himself thoroughly as to details. This explains his readv grasp of the whole field of operations and the signal success that has attended his career. Such a man becomes a sure and safe trustee for others, w?ho can rest assured that he will act for them as for himself. Eor a number of }'ears now' he has resided in Chicago, w'here he is w'ell and favorably known. In the Borough of Bedford, Pennsylvania, Mr. Lyon w'as born iMay 18, 1841. His father, William Lyon, w?as a native of Baltimore, Maryland, but subsequentlv moved to Pennsylvania, w?here he married Miss Catherine Mulhollan. P'or nearly half a century William Lyon \vas a prominent attorney of that State. His ancestors came originally from the North of Ireland, about the middle of the eighteenth century, and have been jirominently identified with the history of lYnnsylvania ever since, being connected with the Armstrongs, Chambers, Blaines, Broomes and other noted people. Mrs. Lyon w?as of Scotch-Irish ancestry and her father, George Mulhollan, w?as a prominent and well-known business man of Western Pennsylvania, his family being connected with the Plales, Sterretts, Thompsons and other representative families. George M. Lyon was fortunate in having excellent educational advantages during his youth, receiving his training at jirivate academies, where his studies were sufficiently complete to admit him to a high college course. After finishing at the academy he went to New' Wirk, w?here he became junior clerk in the office of the Home Insurance Coni}iany, thus starting out in life to earn a livelihood. As time passed he developed an unusual aptitude for the business he had chosen and was gradually advanced in the Home office until he became Assistant Secretary of the company in 1867. After hlling that position most capably until October, 1873, he went in Chicago and associated himself with General Ducat, under the firm name of Ducat N Lyon, in the local agency business and as Managers of the Western Department of the Home r 184 'I' H E U N D E R RITE R. Insurance Company of New York, which department was removed to that city in October, 1893. He has since been actively engaged in the insurance business, adding by his good management materially to the strength of that sterling comiiany. He is a thorough insurance man by taste and exjierience, and l)y his own strength of character and mental powers has reached the enviable position he now occupies. Mr. Lyon is not so taken u}) with the duties of his position that he fails to perform the obligations of a good citizen, and he has always heartily supported the best public enterprises of Chicago, though he has never cared for jxditical office. For a number of years he has been a member of the Chicago and Washington Park Clubs, and he is also a meml)er of the Art Institute. He has traveled so extensively in his own country that he is thoroughly familiar with neaiiv every State in the Union, and having made trips across the ocean he is also a well posted man about Europe. Since early childhood he has been a regular attendant at the Presbyterian Church, and is a liberal contributor to its support. HOME MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY OE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. The Home Mutual Insurance Company was incorjmrated in 1864 with a subscribed capital of $1,000,000, with authority to do Life as well as a Eire and IMarine business. It was soon apjxirent that the conduct of Life Insurance with b'ire and Marine was not compatible, the few life policies issued were withdrawn, and the capital reduced to $300,000. For the first few years of its existence, the company met with varying success, but in 1874 a change took place in the management, and the great \hrginia City fire, \vhich occurred the following year, was, b}' prompt action, taken advantage of to turn disaster into the beginning of prosperity. The company lost $150,000 in the conflagration, and, notwithstanding the fact that it was com}')elled to levy an assessment on its stock, it sent two able adjusters to the scene of the fire, with instructions to draw on the' company at sight in full for all claims as fast as adjusted. The company’s pojnilarity was so great as the result of this jiroinjE and liberal settlement, that its premium income more than doubled the following year, and the company was enabled to pay back to its stockholders the amount of their assessment, add materially to its surplus and pa}’ a twelve per cent dividend, which has been continued uninterruptedly ever since — now more than twenty years. The growth of the company has since Ireen continuous; the net surplus now amounts to $328,000, and the last sale of stock was at over $200 a share. Of the nineteen California coinpanies which were doing business at the time the Home Mutual was organized, or have since been incorporated, the Home Mutual and the Fireman’s Fund only have withstood the vicissitudes of the business. The Home IMutual has always been a strong advocate of conservative jmactices in the business and took a prominent part in the organization of the Pacific Insurance Union, its then Secretary, Charles R. Story, being the first President of the Union. 'The company has received over 59.000,000 in premiums on a loss ratio of onl\’ forty-three ])er cent. While its business has heretofore chiefly been confined to the 135 « ]■ IRE A N ID M A R I N E. Pacific States and Territories, it is now establishing agencies in New York, Boston, Chicago and other principal points east of the Rocky Mountains. The present officers of the Home Mutual Insurance Company are: \\hlliam J. Dutton, President; T. \V. Lougee, Vice-President and Treasurer; Stephen D. Ives, Secretary; PTanklin Bangs, Assistant Secretary, and they constitute an exclusively ‘D'ankee” management, having been born respectively in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts. STIHMIEN I). IVES. Stephen 1 ). Ives, Secretary of the Home Mutual Insurance Company and General Agent of the Eireman's Eund Insurance Company, was born in Meriden, Connecticut, where he grew to manhood and had his first business experience. In the early ’70s he came to California as representative of several Eastern manu- facturing firms, but shortly gave this up and accepted a position as traveling salesman for a prominent San P'rancisco wholesale house, and for a number of years followed this occupation, during which, as representative of several San Erancisco firms, he acquired a valuable store of information regarding various classes of merchandise, and an exten- sive acquaintance throughout the coast. In March, 1882, he entered the service of the Fireman’s I'und Insurance Company as a Special Agent, and his suavity of manner and varied information soon made him both popular among the agents and valuable to the company, jiarticularly as an adjuster of losses, in which he had constant opportunity to utilize his knowledge of different classes of merchandise. In January, 1892, he was appointed General Agent and located at the Home office in charge of the special work and adjustments. In Jul39 1892, the I'ireman’s I'und, having ac(]uired control of the Home Mutual Insurance Company, elected IMr. Ives to the addi- tional duties of Secretary of that company, and his extensive actjuaintance among the agents and knowledge of their relative merits was of great value in assimilating the field work of the two companies. Mr. I ves is highly regarded among his fellows as eminently level-headed and con- servative, and has been honored by election to the presidency of the Eire Underwriters’ Association of the Pacific. ERANKEIN BANGS. Franklin Bangs. Assistant Secretary of the Home Mutual Insurance Company, while coming of good old New England stock, having been born at Brewster, Massa- chusetts, has passed most of his life in California, his parents having moved to that State during his boyhood. In 1871 he commenced his business life as a junior clerk in the office of the Home Mutual Insurance Company, where he has ever since remained, having successively filled various positions up to that of Chief Clerk, which he had occupied for several years prior to 1892, when he was elected to his present office of Assistant Secretary. Mr. Bangs is the oldest employe of the company, and his accpiaintance with the history of all its affairs, as well as his familiarity with the duties of every desk in the office, makes him a particularly valuable man to the comjiany. THE INSURANCE COMPANY OE NORTH AMERICA. It is with no small satisfation that Philadelphia, as the birthplace of insurance in America, is able to acknowledge among its more than fifty insurance companies one that reaches back almost to the beginning of national existence and one in which ability and honest management have brought well-deserved returns, so that it has grown to be a firm and substantial monument of the business integrity and financial strength of the country. The Insurance Company of North America had its origin in The Universal Tontine, which was projected in Philadelphia early in 1792, but which was changed into a general insurance company and called the Insurance Company of North America in November of that year. It became necessarily the architect of its own fortunes. There were no rate books in those days, no guide posts to mark the course which led to com- parative safety, if not profit. It may not be generally known that the original idea of the incorporators of this company was to transact solely a marine business, the demand for that class of under- writing being regarded as sufficient to justify the existence of the new organization. But soon the possibilities which rested in fire insurance were suggested to the directors. In April, 1794, it was proposed “to form a plan for Insuring Goods, Wares, and Mer- chandise in Dwelling Houses, Warehouses or Stores and upon Buildings, against the Risque arising from Eire,’’ and a committee was appointed to give the subject the con- sideration which it merited. Eventually the proposition was favored. The records show that in those days the call for fire policies was not very general, but as the amounts sometimes written on a single policy were large the business assumed a character which justified the attention given to it. Every fire insurance agent in this country knows what the Insurance Company of North America now is. Its growth has always been contemporaneous with the industrial and material progress of this hemisphere. The influence of this company extends to nearly every part of the hemisphere from which it takes its name. It is known as a great agency company, being represented wherever there is an honest call for insurance. There is hardly a town deemed too small to receive its careful attention, and officers, therefore, are obliged to maintain a watchful consideration of the fire hazard of the metropolis of the world on the one hand and the village on the other. To Mr. John M. Nesbitt, the first President, and to Mr. Ebenezer Hazard must be granted the meed of the successful establishment of the company. Mr. Samuel Blodget, though he was not an an officer, takes appropriate place as a co-worker and co-founder with Mr. Hazard and others immediately following that gentleman. The presidents of this noted old company are named as follows: John M. Nesbitt, serving from December ii, 1792, to January, 1796; Charles Pettit, from January 13, 1796, till January 9, 1798: Joseph Ball, January 9, 1789, till July 8, 1799: Charles Pettit, from July 8, 1799, till September 3, i8o6; John Inskeep, from October i, 1806, till April 5, 1831: John C. Smith, from April 5, 1831, till June 22, 1845; Arthur G. Coffin, July I, 1845, till January 14, 1878, and Charles Platt, from January 14, 1878, up to the present time. The company has a corps of agents who have been, as a whole, long identified with the company, who have had its interests at heart, and who in their own si)ecial sphere are, as a rule, as worthy of confidence as the company itself. The volume of business done is enormous. The financial strength of the company is attested by the following figures of January 1, 1896; Capital, $3,000,000: assets, $9,487,673.53. and suriffus, $2,02 2,oi6.*49. CHARLES PLATT PRKSIDKXT OF THE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NOR'l'II AMERICA. It has often been said that an organization or institution is just M'hat the men who compose it make it. This is a theory which is substantiated in the successful jM'ogress of the Insurance Company of North America, which, from its outset down to and including in the present one, has had a succession of administrations of which any institution may be jM'oud. Prominent among those who have aided so materially in bringing this welLknown company to its jmesent prosperous condition is Charles Platt, whose six predecessors in the office left him a grand heritage. The history of the company, in all its ramifications, would serve for the general reader as a history of fire and marine insurance. Mr. Platt was born in the city of Philadelphia L'ebruary i6, 1829; son of William and Maria (Taylor) Platt. After pursuing an academic course, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with honors in 1846, when in his eigh- teenth year. Heat once turned his education to practical account by entering the Inisiness house of his father, who was extensively engaged in trade with China. One }-ear after his graduation he sailed in one of his father’s ships, the “Tartar,” for the Orient, and, with Ritchie & Company, of Canton, a celebrated firm in those days, he formed a connection which lasted for three years. In that time he gained an excellent knowledge of business transactions, which has remained wi-th him through life, and which well fitted him to occupy an executive position in his father’s business. On leaving China he did not sail direct to the Ldiited States, but went to Calcutta first, then visited the Red Sea, and made the tour of Europe, reaching home in the autumn of 1850, after having circumnavigated the globe. The following year he was admitted as a (lartner in the house of W’illiam Idatt & Sons. On the 3d of January, i860, he \vas elected Secretary of the Insurance Company of North America, and on the 13th of Januaiy, 1869, its Vice-President, and finally, on Mr. Coffins’ resignation in 1878, was elected President on January 14th of that year. Mr. Platt soon won the esteem and respect of the board, composed of men his seniors in years, and in the trying times which followed in the country’s history was skillful and firm in the develoinnent of the company’s business. His administration has covered the most active and growing (leriod in the company’s history, and has brought it to the foremost rank of American institutions. JEROME ERANCIS DOWNING GENERAL AGENT OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT OF THE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. jerome b'rancis Downing, a representative citizen of Ivrie, Pa., was born in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, March 24, 1827. His father, James Downing, was born in Poston in 1775, and his mother, Roxana L'orbush, belonged to a Roxbury family of that name. They settled first in Roxbuiy, mow a jxirt of Boston, but remo\'ed about the year 1810 to the tovai of hfnfield, in the county above named, and took up their abode on a farm (still in (possession of one of the children), where they reared a large family of seven sons and tour daughters, Jerome being the youngest child. Dike many young men who have become useful and influential citizens, young 13S 7 FIRE AN D AI A R I N E. 139 Downing was accustomed to hard work, either on the farm or in some one of the factories or machine shops then established in the neighborhood. In this manner he obtained the means of securing a better education than the common school afforded, and in 1848 entered the freshman class of Amherst College. Two years later, he became the editor of a newspaper in Holyoke, Mass., which position he soon relin- quished for the chief editorship of the d'roy (N. Y. ) Daily Post, where he remained for some time ; his next move being in the direction of the legal profession. Having been admitted to the bar, Mr. Downing settled in Erie, Pa., in the fall of 1855, and in 1863 was elected district attorney of the county. The following year, a new departure in life was presented to him. The old Insurance Company of North Amer- ica, of Philadelphia, then, as now, one the most prominent fire and marine insurance companies in the country, was looking about for a suitable person to extend its operations into the Western States. The choice fell upon Mr. Downing, notwithstanding the fact that he had not been brought iqi to the business ol hre insurance. With much reluct- ance and many misgivings, the jiosition olfered of General Agent for the Western States for the company named was accepted, heachjuarters to be established in Erie for the time being. 'Phis position Mr. Downing has now (1896) held for over thirty-two years; an era of remarkalde success for the comjiany's Western business. Indeed it can be said that no one in the same line of effort has l>een more successful. Mr. Downing’s field of operations embraces the States of Ohio, West \’irginia, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin. Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, M issouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Wyoming, and the Teiritoiies of Oklahoma and New Mexico, in which field over 3,000 agencies have been established. The headquarters of the department still remain at Erie, where Mr. Downing occupies one of the finest and best-appointed general offices in the country. A business of such importance, spread over so large a field, demands a large force of experienced assistants, both in the office and in the field, all of whom look to i\Ir. Downing for instruction and direction in their various duties. It is only justice to say that no department office of any of our most prominent underwriting institutions during the last quarter of a century has been conducted more successfully or more conscientiously, Mr. Downing's business motto being the Golden Rule. Just and honorable dealing with all patrons of the companies represented by Mr. Downing, in the settlement of losses or in other Inisiness, has created an unusually friendly sentiment and led to a i'>atronage of veiy large jmoportions. The writer of a sketch of Mr. Downing, ]nd)lished in the “History of Erie County,” says: “ Erom the general features of Jerome E. Downing's business career here outlined, it appears that the profession of hre underwriting, in the widest sense of the term, has been his main life-work, and is likely to so continue for the remainder of his business career. But it will be a mistake to suppose that Mr. Downing has conhned himself exclusively to the duties of his profession." The same writer referred to above describes Mr. Downing as a citizen in these words : “He has not simply been a successful business man ; he has always taken an active interest in promoting the growth and prosperity of the city where his home has been for so man}' years ; has invested liberally in manufacturing enterprises and in the erection of a large number of hue dwelling houses for the accommodation of such as do not own their homes, as well as other buildings, among which may be mentioned his new office building, one of the finest structures for the purpose designed in the state.” HON. CHARLES R. KNOWLES NEW YOKE STATE MANAGER OE THE INSURANCE COMI’ANY OE NORT?I AMERICA, PENNSYLVANIA EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY AND ITI I EADELITI lA UNDERWRITERS, ALL OE PHILADELPHIA, PA. The free country of America affords numberless instances of men who have made their own way alone in life, having nothing on which to depend but their own strong arms and a determination to do and succeed. Such men are alwa}’s self-reliant, their necessities having taught them that what is done must be done through themselves alone. They are worthy and well qualified to perform the duties they are called upon to discharge, and are generally leaders of thought and action. Such a man is Charles R. Knowles, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Knowles is a native of Long Island, born at Riverhead, May i6, 1839. His father was the Rev. Charles Jenkins Knowles, and his mother a sister of Col. Eliakim Sherrill, who after- ward met death bravely at Gettysburg while in charge of one of the important brigades on that eventful day when so many brave hearts and loyal souls freely gave their lives for their country. Of the eight children liorn to this worthy couple. Charles Knowles was third in the order of birth. His youthful days were divided between working on the farm in summer and attending district school in winter. In addition to this pre- liminary education he attended the Riverhead Seminary and the Greeneville Academy, both noted institutions of learning in their day, and it is needless to say Charles made the most of his time and opportunities as a student in each. At the age of sixteen he entered the insurance office of his uncle, J. C. Lewis, Washington, I). C., where he remained for some two years. The business proved a most congenial one to the young man, and here he early developed a marked ability for it. Later he began the study of the law with his cousin. Judge Knowles, of Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, N. Y. But when the second call for recruits came, after the battle of Bull Run, young Knowles laid aside law Iiooks for drill manual, organized a company, of which he was chosen captain, and went a-soldiering. This company became a part of the Grand Army of the Potomac, whose fortunes it followed through the Peninsular campaign. It was here, while supporting a battery at the battle of Pair Oaks, every third man of the gallant command was either killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Soon after this Mr. Knowles was stricken with the lYninsular fever and removed to Washington. After a brief period of rest he resigned his commission and soon afterward was appointed to the navy. The high rank of Judge Advocate of the Mis- sissippi S(|uadron was conferred upon him, in which capacity he served upon the staff of Rear Admiral Lee. This office was a very important as well as a busy one. Eollowing the war, Mr. Knowles went to Albany and became connected with the Commerce Insurance Company as its General Agent. Although he had been admitted to the bar he was never actively engaged in the practice of the profession. His insurance connections demanded all his time and thought. In 1868 he secured the New York State Agency of the old Insurance Company of North America, of Philadelphia, and later there was added to his state management the lYnnsylvania Eire Insurance Company of Philadelphia, and the Royal Insurance Company of England. The Imsiness of the comjxinies at once assumed large proportions. His management from its inception evidenced marked ability and gave promise of great growth and large jirofit. His is now by far both the oldest and largest State agenc}’ of the State. 140 142 THE UNDERWRITER. January i, i8S. Hennett. In 1863 he went into the Idiited States Navy (Mississippi S(}uadron) as a junior officer, and was in the service until the close of the war, when he went to St. Louis, where he was immediately appointed Special Agent for the Home Insurance Company, traveling in that cajiacity throughout the Wffistern and Southern States until 1868. In that year he went to Chicago as Special Agent of the Lhenix Insurance Company, of Lu-ooklyn, and as such had supervision of that compan)' for eight states, having as his assistants in the territory a number of gentlemen who have since become very prominent in the business. He added to his business the Chicago Agency of the Lhenix ol L)rooklyn and other companies in 1870, and at the time of the great fire in Chicago, in 1871, his local agency was the first after the fire to open an office, the first to jniy a loss and the first to issue a policy. At the present time Mr. Critchell is now Manager of the Wffistern Department of the Insurance Company, State of Pennsylvania, and the d'entonia Insurance Company of New Orleans, and also Manager of the “ Cook County Department ” of the Caledonia Insurance Company of Scotland and the Spring Ckirden Insurance Compan)' of Phila- delphia, and is head of the firm of K. S. Critchell & Company, which, in point of the numlier of sole agencies represented and premiums written for the companies represented, is the largest in the city of Chicago. Mr. Critchell is an ardent believer in the sole agency plan, and he claims that the twenty-five years’ experience in which the ju'emiums of R. S. Critchell & Companv’s agency ran largely into the millions, with losses less than forty-five per cent, justifies his position. He is jirominent in commercial and social circles in Chicago, for many years was Vice-President, Secretary and Director of the Ibiion League Club of Chicago. I'or a number of years after the second large fire in Chicago (1874), he was an active member of various committees of Citizens’ Association and Iffiard of Underwriters, which secured important reforms in the City of Chicago, the result of whose actions have made underwriting successful in the city since. At present he is a member of the Union League Club, Kenwood Club, Treasurer of the Illinois Commanderv Naval Order of the United States, member of the Congregational Clul), and Director in the MTstern State Hank, and Adjutant-General of the Illinois Naval Militia with rank of Lieutenant Commander. Mr. Critchell was married at St. Louis, in 1866, to Miss M. A. Moodey, daughter of judge iMoodey of that cit)-, and they have tour children, one of whom. Robert M.. is in partnership with his father. RUDOLPH II. GARRIGUE Manager of the Western Department of the Merchants’ Insurance Company of Newark, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 19, 1857, just at the time when his father, Mr. Rudolph Garrigue, was taking the preliminary steps in organizing the Germania Fire Insurance Company of New York, thus being actually born in an insur- ance atmosphere. After receiving an education in the common schools and Packards’ Business College of New York Cit}', Mr. Garrigue, while in his seventeenth year, entered the fire insurance business in the office of the New ^’ork Underwriters’ Agency, then composed of the Germania and Hanover Fire Insurance companies, under the management of Alexander Stoddart, General Agent. Starting as office boy, he worked his way through all the desks of a general office, and in January, 1877, was promoted to the position of Special Agent and assigned as assistant to Geo. D. Gould, State Agent for Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. In October, 1879, he was transferred to assist Captain Merwin F. Collier, State Agent for Indiana and Micldgan. On February 19, 1881, on his twenty-fourth birthda}', Mr. (iarrigue married Miss Lida M. Collier, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Captain Collier. Among his wedding presents was a promotion to the position of State Agent for Michigan for the New York Under- writers' Agency. Soon after, owing to the failing health of Captain Collier, IMr. Garrigue had full charge of the States of Michigan and Indiana, with two assistants, until Sep- tember I, 1883, when he resigned this jxvsition to accept the position of Assistant M anager of the Western Department of the Germania, which company retired from the New York Underwriters’ Agency on January i, 1884. On August 31, 1894, being the twenty-hrst anniversary of his connection with the Germania, Mr. Garrigue resigned his ]X)sition as Assistant Manager, and a few months later was ajipointed Manager of the Western Department of “The Merchants' of Newark,” since which he has thoroughly reorganized that department, putting it on a handsome paving basis. Mr. (jarrigue’s greatest forte is the making warm personal friends of most of his business associates, and, having once secured their conhdence, in always retaining it. He l)elieves in the “human-nature element” in controlling men, and, like all graduates of the Alexander Stoddart School, is a great succes.s as a manager. He ccmies from sturdy stock. His father was a Dane and his mother was one of the early children of Chicago, having married there in 1847, in the famous Ogden resi- dence, the only house that escaped the big Chicago hre of 1871. Mr. Garrigue is one of eleven children, and it is said there is not a lazy bone in the whole family. Mr. Garrigue is proud of having worked by successive steps from the lowest round of the ladder to his present position, against many obstacles of a discouraging nature. There being nothing l)y way of request or command that he can make in his official capacity that he has not had to obey from others, and “knowing how it is himself,” is always courteous and in full sympathy with those under his control, thus winning their respect and best efforts. GENERAL WILLIAM T. BARTON l‘KKSII)KXr OF THE MKRCIlAXrs’ INSURANCE COMPANV OF PROVIDENCE. General William T. Barton was born in Warren, R. I., in the early part of the present century. His father was Captain Alfred Barton and his mother was IMargaret Clay Turner, both of Warren, R. I. 150 THE UNDERWRITE R. IT) 2 lie was educated in the common schools of his native town, and early in life bef^an his business career, learning the carpenter's trade, but soon turned to a seafaring life. He followed the sea for a number of years, and while hrst ofhcer of the ship “Frances” decided to retire from the mariner’s calling and took up a mercantile business l"n his native town, which he conducted successfully until about 1859, when, owing to the death of his wife, he removed from Warren and later took up his residence in Providence. Wdiile a resident of Warren he was honored by his fellow-citizens with the chief ofhce in the Town Council, also acted as Judge of the Ih'obate Court, and, as a mem- ber of the Warren Artillery Company, rose to the rank of Colonel, receiving his training in military alfairs from Major John K. \unton, of the United States Army. lie twice received the commission of Brigadier-Ceneral, and once that of Major- General, from governors of the State. At the breaking out of the Civil War he devoted two years, without compensation, to the drilling and forwarding of troops to the front. Wdi en the internal revenue system adopted by the government was put into force he took the position of Chief Clerk for his district. Ilis experience, resulting from the many departments of business with which lie came in contact in the revenue ofhce, proved a preparation for the insurance business, into which he came as President of the Hope Insurance Company in 1868. d'he Chicago fire compelled the Hope Insurance Comjiany to wind up in 1871, and 111 the following year, after adjusting the Chicago losses in which his company was involved, he was called upon to do the same duty for The Merchants’ Insurance Com- }iany in the ITiston hre, which occurred in November, 1872, and adjusted the losses b\- that conflagration for the Merchants’, exceeding in amount the entire capital of that company, which were promptly met and paid without interrujition of its business. Subse(|uently he was appointed General Agent of the Merchants’, in which capacity he continued until 1878. At that time the Merchants' Insurance Company passed through the unusual expe- rience of coincidently losing both its Ih'esident and Secretary by death. The vacant offices of President and Secretary were filled by the appointment of General Barton as President and William P. Goodwin as Secretary, who have continued in office to the present time. Since then the officers of the Merchants' have had the satisfaction of seeing a continued increase in assets and surplus, until at the present time the funds of the company are larger than ever before in its nearly half century of uninterrupted existence. Shortlv after becoming I’resident of the Merchants’ he largely extended the com- pany's field of operation by entering into association with The K(|uital)le Fire and Marine Insurance Comjxiny and forming d'he Rhode Island Underwriters' Association, for the }Hupose of extending business into the Western States, thereby covering territory for his company extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. FRANK H. WHITNFY SKCRKTARV I'lIE MIC.IIKiAX MRK AXI) MARIXK IXSURAXCK COMI'AXV. The young man of the }reriod who is determined on “getting on" has reason to take courage. Many of the recent important ai^pointments in fire insurance have gone to young men. Mr. Frank 11 . Whitney affords an illustration of this trend. He is 9 T H R U N D E R W R 1 T E R. 154 familiar with all branches of fire insurance, is one of the ablest underwriters in Michifjan, and is well equipped for the work before him. Since the year 1892 he has filled the important position of Secretary of the Michigan Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and with his store of knowledge, gleaned from the field of active practice, he finds it comparatively easy to execute to the best advantage all the duties pertaining to his office. Mr. Whitney was born in Oakland County, Michigan, in 1858, but when but a lad moved with his parents to Battle Creek. There he received his education in the public schools, and when nineteen years old entered the local fire insurance business and was thus occuj:)ied until 1880. At that date he was ajipointed to a position in the home office of the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Com})any. Three years later he was appointed State Agent of the Western .Vssurance Company of Toronto, for Michigan, held that position until the following year, and then accepted the s}:iecial agencv of the Hartford for the same field. In 1890 he entered the service of the Michigan Fire and Marine as Special Agent, and remained in that capacit}' until he was elected to his present position. Having all the necessary exj'ierience in all the various departments of the work of fire insurance, Mr. W’hitney is essentially practical in all his ideas relative to it. Aside from the duties pertaining to the underwriting of the company, he has general and personal supervision of the ^Michigan’s investments, as well as conducts one of the largest and most prohtable local agencies in the city of Detroit. In his agency he has the Grand Rapids, Insurance Company of North America, and Philadelphia Underwriters, North British and Mercantile, Liverpool and London and Globe, and Hartford and Prov- idence-Washington. He controls many of the largest lines in that territory. The Michigan P'ire and Marine Insurance Ct)mpany was organized in 1881 with a capital of $200,000, which has since been increased to $400,000. On January i, 1896, the company put out its annual statement showing $786,605.77 in assets, a gain of $26,710.88 over the year previous. The net surplus now amounts to $145,110.10, a gain of $34, 144. 15 over January i, 1895. Secretary Whitney has been instrumental to a large measure in bringing about these excellent results. G. L. CRANDALL MANAGER SOUTHERN I )E PARl'M ENT OE THE MIEWAUKEE MECHANICS’ INSURANCE COMPANY. G. L. Crandall, IManager Southern Dejiartment of the Milwaukee Mechanics’ Insurance Comjiany of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Home Life Insurance Company of New York, was born in iMorton, Tazewell County, Illinois. In 1881 he embarked in the hre insurance business in the Northwest, first as farm solicitor, afterward as Special agent, and in 1888, impelled by his ambition to constantly make advancement, in order to familiarize himself with a larger held, he made a trip through the Southern States. The natural resources of this section of the country, together with its delightful climate, impressed him with the convicticm that the South would develoji very speedily and become one of the richest parts of the Ibiited States. The following year he located in New Orleans, where he afterward opened the Southern Department of the Milwaukee Mechanics’ Insurance Company. In 1893 Mr. Crandall was appointed Southern Manager of the Home Life Insurance Company of T HE UNDERWRITE R. ir)() New York. Though having had very little experience in the life insurance business, his previous experience in organizing and selecting agents, together with his untiring energy and close attention to business, has enabled him to make his department one of the most important within control of the Home office. His success is what would be expected by those who know him in a business and social way. He has fulhlled the old proverl) in having achieved success by deserving it. RUDOLPH A. LOEWENTHAL PRESIDENT OE THE MUTUAE FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OE NEW' YORK. Rudolph A. Loewenthal w^as born in Hamburg, September 14, 1853, and comes of an old and distinguished German family. He removed to this countr}’ w'ith his parents in 1865, locating in the West, and early developed those traits wdiich have since w'on for him a successful career. After the Chicago hre of 1871, seriously affecting as it did his family fortunes, Mr. I ^oewenthal removed to New York City and entered into active business, connecting himself wdth the rubber trade. For many years thereafter he was both a manufacturer and importer, assuming a prominent position in the commercial wmrld, not only in this country, but also in England and throughout the -continent. He planned and carried into successful operation the Rubber Association, composed of leading rubber manu- facturers, becoming its hrst Treasurer and General IManager. Owhng to the lar^e insurable interests represented by him, the subject of hre insurance had his attention and he devoted to it that careful study and thorough investigation which characterized his w'ork in other directions. His hrst connection wn'th the insurance business w'as that of a stockholder in the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of New' York; in 1888 he w-as elected a trustee of that company, hie took a prominent position in the councils of the board, particularly in all matters affecting the hnancial condition of the compaii}-. He has enjoyed to an exceptional degree the conhdence of the Board of Trustees, the membership of which has always been composed of leading merchants and manufacturers, who have given to the company not alone their hnancial support, but also their time and personal service. When a reorganization of the official and business management was found necessary, Mr. Lowenthal was unanimously elected Piesident of the compan}-. He assumed that position on November 8, 1894, has hlled the place wdth decided success, taking an active part in the conduct of its affairs in all branches, and adding to the reputation of the company as a hnancially strong and substantial institution. During one of his visits to Germany he met the lady w’ho afterward became his wife. He is at present living wdth his family in New' York City, and is actively concerned in all that tends to promote the best interests of the Metropolis. His connection wdth many charitalile institutions affords abundant opportunity for practical expression of a sympathetic nature. He is a member of the Society of Ethical Culture and of many of the leading clubs; he is an American in thought and feeling, and a sturdy supjiorter of Republican institutions in the best sense of that term. WILLIAM A. FRANCIS SFXRETARY OF TFfF MUTUAL FIRE INSURA^'CF COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Will iam A. Francis was liorn in New York City, January 13, 1855. His first connection with the business of hre insurance was in 1872, in the New York office of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, where he was engaged as junior clerk. He subsequently entered the held service for the same company, and for several years was Special Agent and Adjuster in various localities. In 1887 he entered the service of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, and became Assistant Manager of the United States branch in 1889. His duties entailed the general super- vision of business over the United States, and he is well known in every locality. In December, 1894, I''® elected Secretary of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of New York, and to his wide experience and untiring energy are due, to a large degree, the present strong position of the company and the respect and conhdence it enjoys in business circles. Mr. Francis is living at Montclair, New Jersey, in the Orange Mountains, and is particularly happy in his family life. He married in 1879, and has four children. GEORGE McMICKING HARVEY GFNFRAL AGENT WESTERN DEPARTMENT MUTUAL FIRE OF NEW YORK (a STOCK CORPORATION). There are few branches of business in which the march of time has wrought such veritable revolutions as in fire insurance, Its introduction into the business world was the assurance of safetv and has proved an inestimable boon to countless millions. Many homes and businesses have been established by the insurance companies over the wrecks caused by fire. Many fortunes have been restored by these companies. The insurance agent should be specially recognized in this beneficial work. It is he who brings to the notice of the unthinking property owner the duty he owes himself, when he urges insurance, and, like the preacher in the wilderness, he calls on everyone to lie converted to the insurance man's ideas. Self-interest urges him to write policies, but back of this interest is true philanthropy. Prominent among able, efficient and capable underwriters stands the name of George McMicking Harvey, General Agent of the Western Department of the Mutual Fire (a stock corporation) of New York. Mr. Harvey was born at Niagara-on-the-Eake, April 28, 1848. His parents were James and Janet Harvey. The father was born at Plymouth, Ivngland, and was b}' profession a chemist. When about twenty-two years old he came to America and settled in the town of Niagara-on-the-Eake. The mother was a native of Scotland, born at Kil- marnock, but when about seven years old with her parents crossed the ocean to this country. I'hey settled in ( 3 range, New Jersey, and later she attended a young ladies' seminary at Buffalo, New York, graduating from the same when about eighteen years old. George M. Harvey received his education at Niagara, in Phillips Academy, and subsequently at the age of fifteen years went to Buffalo, New York, where he entered the insurance office of Round A Hall, 'bhere he remained until 1870, when he turned his face Westward and came to Chicago, engaging with the firm of S. M. kloore A Company. About fourteen years ago, or in 1882, he commenced business under the name of George M. Harvey A Conqiany, and that has continued up to the jn'esent time. 1(30 THE UNDER W R I T E R. He has devoted his life thus far to insurance, never having been engaged in any other business. Mr. Harvey is a member of the Chicago i\thletic and North Shore clubs. He is a man of pleasing address and one who makes many friends. He was brought up in the Protestant E}hscopal faith and still holds membership in that church. In politics he is and has always been a Republican. He was married on the 19th of October, 1886, to Miss Lucy Dale Halsted, a native of Chicago and of English parentage. They have three children, two sons and a daughter, and reside at 36 Stratford Place, Lake \hew, Chicago. THE NATIONAL EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, OE HARTEORD. The National Eire Insurance Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, was granted a fire and marine charter June 14, 1869, by the Legislature of the State of Connecticut, but no proceedings were taken under it till after the Chicago fire, which destroyed six of the nine hre-insurance companies doing a general business in Hartford. Part of the original corporators then opened subscriptions, but, before completing them, transferred the control and right of organization to the executive of the IMerchants’ Insurance Company, one of those rendered insolvent by the fire — dating from 1857. The National was organized November 27, 1871, with #200,000 capital, at once raised to #500,000 — the charter permitting #1,000,000 — and a directorate chiefly from the Merchants’ board, with some from the National subscribers. Mark Howard was elected President and James Nichols Secretary, as they had been of the Merchants’. It was voted to do only fire insurance, and business was begun the next day, November 28, most of the Merchants’ agency force being secured for the new company. A prosperous year followed, but the Boston Are of November 9-10, 1872, which involved the company in #161,825 of loss payments, caused a technical impairment of $150,000, which was made good December 20, by reducing the capital to #350,000, and voting to raise it to #500,000 by new subscriptions. These were at once taken up almost entirely by the existing stockholders. A stock dividend of #100,000 in 1878 raised the capital to $600,000, and the fresh subscriptions in 1881 to #1,000,000, the charter maximum. President Howard died January 24, 1887, and was succeeded by the Secretary, James Nichols. Shortly after, the secretaryship was filled by Ellis G. Richards, New England General Agent of the Queen. In March, 1891, an Assistant Secretary was appointed — Benjamin I\h Stillman, former General Agent of the Springfield Eire and Marine. In 1888 a re-insurance of the Washington Eire and Marine of Boston nearly doubled its business, and caused the creation of a Western Department, with headquarters at Ghicago, Ered S. James being made General Agent and George Mb Blossom, Assistant. iV few months later the I’acific Department was reconstituted, with George D. Dornin as Manager, assisted later by his son, George \\b Dornin. Several other important re-insurances have since been effected, and the business of the company has grown heavily, indej^endent of them. The net premium receipts have increased within the decade from about half a million to nearly two and a half millions yearly. Since its or‘uinization it has received over #20,000,000 in premiums, and paid over $10,000,000 in losses. T H E U N D E R W R I T E R. 1()2 In September, 1893, it completed and occupied one of the handsomest office buildings in Hartford. The present Board of Directors is ; James Nichols, President; Homer Blanchard, retired wool merchant and manufacturer; James Bolter, President Hartford Bank; General W’m. B. P'ranklin, formerly \hce-President Colt's P'ire Arms Company; Frank W. Cheney, Treasurer Cheney Brothers, silk manufacturers; John R. Buck, attorney at law and Ex-Congressman; Jonathan P\ Morris, late President Charter Oak Bank; John L. Houston, President Hartford Carpet Company; Henry C. Judd, wool mer- chant; Francis T. Maxwell, wool manufacturer; Ellis G. Richards, Secretary. The annual statement, December 31, 1895, discloses; Assets — Real estate owned. $.'263,486; loans on bond and mortgage and accrued interest, $701,661; stocks and bonds owned, $2,268,596; cash in office and bank, 225,288; premiums in course of transmission, $401,111; aggregate available assets, $3,860,142. Liabilities — Unpaid losses and claims, $321,792; unearned premiums, $1,825,452; total liabilities, except capital, $2,146,944. Capital stock, $1,000,000. Surplus above all liabilities, $713,198. JAMES NICHOLS T'RESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD. Soldiers, statesmen, lawyers, men of learning, merchants, bankers and masters of success in the varied school of experience in the world’s affairs have all contributed their quota to the establishment of the insurance business. Many sterling and admir- able qualities helped to make James Nichols, President of the National Eire Insurance Company, the right man for the right place. The exacting duties of this office he has discharged with marked skill and ability, and his broad experience and legal acumen have been of great service toward the success of the organization. James Nichols was born in Weston, P^airfield County, Connecticut, December 25, 1830, removed to Newtown, in said county, with his parents, when about five years of age, where he remained till 1854, since which time he has been a resident of Hartford, Connecticut. He is the second child born to the marriage of Isaac and Betsy (Platt) Nichols, and the grandson of James Nichols, who was a successful farmer of the Nutmeg State. The father of our subject also followed the occupation of an agriculturist. In the public schools of Newtown young Nichols received a fair education, but from early youth he had displayed a great liking for the legal profession, and most of his evenings and holidays were spent in gaining a knowledge of law. After teaching school until he had attained his majority, i\Ir. Nichols began his law course with Amos S. Treat, a leading lawyer of Danbury, Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar at that place in the spring of 1854. In April he located at Thompsonville and began practicing. The following fall he was appointed Assistant Clerk of the Hartford County Superior Court, and removed to that city, where, in 1856, he began his practice. On the first Monday of April, 1862, he was elected Judge of Probate for the Hartford District, embracing six inqiortant towns besides Hartford, commencing his term of office the first of July following. Mr. Nichols was the first Republican Judge who had held that position, and at the end of a year he was succeeded by a Democrat. However, at the end of another year he was again elected, and hlled that position most ably until July, 1866. Mean- Massachusetts Puhlishm^ Co.Everctt.Mass FIRE AND MARINE. 108 while, al)()ut i860, he had entered into partnership with Julius L. Strong, under the firm title -of Strong & Nichols, and they continued together until i\Ir. Nichols left the law practice. In the fall of 1866 he was made Special Agent for the Merchants’ Insurance Company of Hartford, succeeding J. M. Allen, now Ih'esident of the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance Company, and in 1867 he was made General Agent, and Secretary in January, 1870. On the formation of the National Insurance Company, in 1871, Mr. Nichols became Secretary, and after the death of President Howard, January 24, 1887, he was made chief executive officer. The National Fire Insurance Company was organized November 27, 1871, by the corporators under a charter of 1869, but with the understanding that it should be operated by the management of the Merchants’ Insurance Company, which had to sur- render its charter and go into liankruptcy on account of the Chicago fire. The capital, $200,000, was at once raised to $500,000. The President was Mark Howard and the Secretary James Nichols. The capital of the National was raised to $600,000 in 1877 and to $1,000,000 in i88r. This company has re-insured a number of other companies, the princijial one being The Washington Fire and Marine of Boston. Mr. Nichols is Vice-President of the Charter Oak National Bank; Director Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company; Director Pratt & Cady Company; Trustee Society for Savings, the largest bank of the kind in Connecticut; and is a member of St. John’s Lodge of Masons, Hartford. He is also a member of the Park Congregational Church. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Nichols was married July 9, 1861, to IMiss Isabelle M. Starkweather, of Hartford, and they have had three children, one now living. FLLIS GRAY RICHARDS SKCKKIARY OF 'I’lIK NA'l'lONAl, FIKK INSURANCFI COMI’ANV OF HARTFORD. The subject of this sketch, Ellis Gray Richards, was born in MTrcester, Massa- chusetts, December 16, 1848, of Puritan and Pilgrim ancestry. Young Richards’ early life was spent much in the same manner as numberless other youths, although without the advantages of wealth and environment with which many are favored. Graduated from the schools of his native city, he commenced a business life at the age of seventeen as clerk in a large iron-manufacturing establishment, becoming at the age of twenty-one its head bookkeeper, and about that time the establishment (a New York corporation) was removed to Passaic, New Jersey. The panic of 1873, which brought distress to the business interests of the entire country, affected severelv the o ^ ^ future prospects of the company, and he foresaw that a change would soon be necessary if further business progress was to be attained. Urged by friends to enter the insurance business even as early as 1871 (in the service of a Massachusetts company), such a change was for a long time seriously con- sidered by him, but it was not until February, 1874, that he decided to leave his then position, which had become one of large responsibility, to commence again at the bottom of the ladder of business experience by entering the employ of the Commercial Pbiion .\ssurance Company as clerk in its Boston office. Promotion soon followed, and again in Novemlier of the same year further 104 THE UNDERWRITER. advancement was obtained by the offer and acceptance of the position of secretary and surveyor of the Worcester County Board of Underwriters under direction of the National Board. This position brought valuable experience in the surveying and rating of fire hazards and led to further promotion by his employment as Special Agent of the Royal and Pennsylvania under Foster & Scull, Managers, in May, 1877. Probably no office in New England offered better advantages to a young and ambitious special for the acquirement of a diversified knowledge of field work than that of Foster & Scull’s, and young Richards carefully improved his advantages. In May, 1881, he accejited the position offered him by the Queen Insurance Company, as Special Agent for the same field with greater responsibilities and oppor- tunities for advancement in the business of fire underwriting. Under the guidance of the manager of the company, Mr. James A. Macdonald, one of the ablest underwriters of the country, Mr. Richards passed six years in earnest work in building up the New England business of the Queen. In the organization of the New England Insurance Exchange, which occurred January i, 1883, Mr. Richards took an active part, and during the remaining years of his work in the field he was a studious and enthusiastic participant in the labors of that body, wdiich has done so much for the elevation and improvement of the fire under- writing business. The death of Mark Howard, President of the National Eire Insurance Company, of Hartford, in January, 1887, was followed by the promotion of its Secretary, James Nichols, to the presidency, and the j)osition of secretary thus made vacant was offered to Mr. Richards in the following April and accepted. In this position Mr. Richards has since shared, with President Nichols, the executive work of that company, being also elected a Director in July, 1895. l\Ir. Richards was married at the age of twenty-one years, and his home is made happy by a wife and one daughter. BENJAMIN RHODES STILLMAN ASSISTANT SECRKTARY OF THE NATIONAL EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD. Benjamin Rhodes Stillman, Assistant Secretary of the National Eire Insurance Company of Hartford, is a thorough and skillful underwriter, and one whose career is worthy of emulation. He was born March 31, 1852, at Adams, New York. His parents, Benjamin Eranklin Stillman and Sarah (Rhodes) Stillman, came of good old New England stock, their ancestors being members of the Roger Williams colony and prominent in the early development of Rhode Island. Benjamin V. Stillman was a successful merchant but died before his son Benjamin was nine years old, leaving him in the care of his mother, who was a woman of great executive ability and unusual strength of character. He received his education in the public schools at Oswego, New York, and prepared for Hamilton College at the Oswego High School. A prominent citizen, interested in educational matters, in order to stim- ulate the school boys to study, offered to start that student in business who, at the graduation examination, received the highest record. Young Stillman was the successful one, and, hastily abandoning all thoughts of college, entered the general business office of Mollison A Hastings, prominent merchants and millers, who were also engaged in THE UNDERWRITER. KT) the forwarding and insurance business. In due course of time, by promotion, Mr. Stillman's whole time was given to the insurance branch. Seven years later he became connected with the firm of Shepard & Stillman, but this firm was dissolved after three years l)y the appointment of i\Ir. Stillman as Special Agent of the Watertown Fire Insurance Company, with head(]uarters in New ^’ork City. Mr. Stillman served three years as Inspector and Adjuster in this position, obtaining a valuable knowledge of the business in Metropolitan District, and was then called to the home office at Watertown in general field work. While with the Water- town he traveled extensively throughout all the ICistern, Middle and Southern States and obtained a general knowledge of the business rarely available to the field man, and it was largely due to this experience that in 1884 he was appointed General Agent of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company. He removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, and for six years had charge of the home office field work of that company. In 1890 Mr. Stillman resigned to accejit a tempting ofier of the secretaryship of the Safety Car-heating and Lighting Company of New York, and removed to that city. At the end of a year he resigned and in 1891 accepted his present position, although his resignation was not accepted until some time later. In 1889 Mr. Stillman was President of the New England Insurance Exchange, being the seventh presiding officer of that body. He was also one of the original trustees and incorporators of the Insurance Library Association of Boston, and one of the organizers of the New England Bureau of United Inspection. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Although not a jiolitician, he is an ardent Republican and has always voted with that party. On the 20th of October, 1880, Mr. Stillman married Miss Jennie Louise Whitney, only daughter of Hon. Cyrus Wdiitney, of Oswego, New York, a lineal descendant of John Wdiitney, the lYiritan, who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, was himself Judge of Oswego County until retired by reaching the age limited by law. Mr. and Mrs. Stillman have one daughter living. Daisy Gilbert, now thirteen years old. The only son, Cyrus \Miitney, died of scarlet fever in 1894, aged ten years. EKEDERICK SINCLAIR JAMES (;exp:kai. western ac;ent oe ihe naitonal eire insurance companv oe harteord. Erederick S. James, General Western Agent of the National Fire, and confessedly one of the best all-around fire underwriters in the West, is a product of the Prairie State, born in Cook County, in the townshij') of Barrington, thirty miles from the city of Chicago, b'ebruary 20, 1849. He is the son of Colonel William and Catherine C. (Sinclair) James, early settlers of Illinois and of sturdy Scotch ancestry, being descended from people of the 1 lighlands. The father was a warm personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, and one of the organizers of the Whig party. When Mr. Lincoln became President he was ajrpointed Provost Marshal by him, with headcpiarters at Chicago. He was also very prominent in public affairs in Chicago and Cook County for many years, repre- senting his district in the Legislature several terms, and for a time was fire and police commissioner of the city. I'redcrick S. James received his primary education in the public schools, and later, when twel\e yixirs old, he entered the High School of Chicago. His connection with THE U N D E W R I T E R. 1(‘)8 the insurance business began when he was fifteen years old, when he entered the in- surance office of Alfred James & Company (the senior member of which, now President of the Northwestern National Insurance Company, of iMilwaukee, l)eing his brother). In four or five years he had worked his way up to a membership in the firm, and not long after the great Chicago conflagration began business on his own account as local agent. He succeeded to a consideral)le portion of his brother’s trade, and so well has he managed his business that the firm of Fred. S. James & Company is now one of the foremost in their line in Chicago. For many years Mr. James has served as Ceneral Western Agent of strong com- panies. He was Western Manager of the Fire Insurance Association, of London, Fngland, for several years, and afterward of the Boston Underwriters, until the Wash- ington Fire and Marine withdrew from the combination, when he continued as its Ceneral Western Representative. When the National of Hartford reinsured the Western business of the Washington, he continued as its MAstern General Agent, with George W. Blossom as Assistant, a position he had previously occipfied for the latter company. Mr. James is a man of unusual business acumen, but has a most affable and genial disposition. Strong and honest in his purpose, generous and cjuick in his sym- pathies, in all his relations, whether in business or society, his life is regulated by the highest moral standard. Socially he is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of Cleveland Lodge, No. 2ii; Washington Chapter, No. 43: Chicago Commandery, No. 19. and Oriental Consistory. He is a prominent member of the Chicago Club, Chicago Athletic Association and Illinois Club. In jmlitics he advocates the principles of the Republican party. Mr. James takes a deep interest in all pulfiic cjuestions, but dislikes politics as a profession. In person he is of medium height and has a well developed physitjue. GFORGF \M BLOSSOM ASSIS'l'ANT GEXKRAl, AC'.ENT ()E NATIONAE EIRE INSURANCE CoMI’ANV OE IIARTEORI). No ]irofessional or commercial jnirsuits afford better opportunities to men of ability and enterprise than those embodied in fire insurance, a notable example of advancement in this direction being illustrated in the record of George \\k Blossom, .Vssistant General Agent of National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford. He has a thorough knowledge of the most important risks, and brings to bear the widest range of practical experience. He is a jiartner in the firm of Fred S. James & Company of Chicago, and is doing a large insurance business. Mr. Iflossom is a product of the Hawkeye State, born at Dubuque, Iowa, (Utober I, iSs4. resident of Chicago, Illinois, where he has made his home for a number of years. He is the son of Alonzo and Frances F. Blossom. Mr. Blossom's educational advantages were cjuite good during youth, for he attended the public schools of Dubmiue, and later the high school, where he received thorough training. During his boyhood days- he went to the country and spent three years on a farm, gaining, in addition to a fair knowledge of the duties thereon, a goodly amount of health and strength. After leaving school, he t(R)k a position as clerk in a book and stationery store at Dulnupie, because he was anxious to commence a business career and saw no 170 THE UNDERWRITER. other chance. There he remained for six months, and then, in i\Iay, 1870, when only sixteen years old, he l)ecame interested in insurance, entering a local office at Dubuque, with the hrm of Smith & Plaister. The members of this firm were Iowa State Agents for the xTtna Insurance Company of Hartford, and he remained with them for three years, obtaining in that time a thorough insight into the business. In the month of September, 1873, Mr. Blossom went to Chicago and obtained a position with Eugene Cary, then Manager of the Imperial of London, afterward ^Manager of the German-American Insurance Company. The long years i\Ir. Blossom had devoted to the insurance business were fruitful with valuable experience, and his value soon became known to the different insurance companies. In the year 1884 he was tendered the position of Assistant to Manager A. Williams, then organizing the Western Department of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, and continued in that capacity for three years. In the year 1887 Mr. Blossom entered the firm of Fred S. James & Company, Local Agents in Chicago, and at the same time became Assistant General Agent of the Washington Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Boston, under Mr. James. The last named company afterward reinsured in the National of Hartford, and Mr. Blossom then became Assistant General Agent of that company. He is known to the fraternity as a wide-awake insurance man, with a great capacity for hard work, and no less so as a refined gentleman, endowed \vith pleasing social qualities. Socially Mr. Blossom is a member of the Union League Club, the Kenwood Club, the Hyde Park Club, the Kenwood Country Club, and is a genial companion with a host of warm friends. In his political views he upholds the jfiatform of the Republican party, and has always advocated its principles. He selected his wife in the person of Miss Carrie R. Boardman, and their union was celebrated on the 26th of September, 1889. Two children, both boys, have blessed this union. CHARLES RICHARDSON SKCONI) ASSISTANT GENKRAL AGEN'l' OF NAITONAE FIRE INSURANCE CO.MPANV OF HARTFORD. Special adaptability to any particular work in life is the one necessary adjunct to success. Charles Richardson, Second Assistant General Agent of the National Lire Insurance Company, is a man who would convince the most careful critic that he has made no mistake in his chosen calling, that his lines have fallen in suitable places and that he is a man of great versatility, untiring energy and unswerving integrity. Mr. Richardson is a native of the Hoosier State, was born near Columbus, and reared on a farm. His birth occurred July 19, 1853, to the marriage of Garah 'SI. Richardson and Lucy Cutler Richardson. The father was a successful agriculturist and a man of strict integrity and uprightness. In the public schools of St. Joseph and Marshall counties Charles Richardson received a good practical education, and after a regular course of four years graduated from the Indiana University in 1877, with one of the honors of the class. His early tastes and habits were those common to student life, but later he developed a taste for the legal profession and first decided on that as his calling in life. .\fter leaving the university Mr. Richardson taught school for a year and subse- quently entered the law office of Judge A. C. Capron at Plymouth, Indiana, where he 172 T i-i I-: I' X D p: r w r i t e r. j^ursLied his studies for some time. Judge Capron represented several fire insurance companies, and it was part ot Mr. Richardson’s duties to look after that part of the office work, and he soon became familiar with the insurance business. In 1880 he became a partner in the law and insurance business with his preceptor, and they were associated together until the early part of 1883. In April of that year he accepted the position of .Special Agent of the Franklin Insurance Company of Indianapolis, and in January, 1884, his real worth becoming apparent, he was asked to accept a similar position with the Firemen’s Insurance Com- j)any of Dayton, Ohio. This he accepted and took uj) his heachpiarters at Chicago, being, in addition to Special Agent, Adjuster for the company. It was during the ensuing four years as Inspector of Risks, as Sj)ecial Agent and Adjuster, that an acquaintance was made with agents and the business in Ohio, Indiana, INIichigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, which lu'oved of inestimable value to Mr. Richardson in his subsecpient work. Early in the year 1888 the office of Secretary of the Firemen's Insurance Com- jmny became vacant, and by unanimous vote of the Board of Directors Mr. Richardson was called to fill that iiosition. The duties of this office he discharged in a most sat- isfactory manner until 1892, when the business of that comjiany was reinsured by the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford.' Although the last four years of the life of the “Firemen’s” were hard ones for fire insurance generally, the company pros- pered hnancially, paid regular dividends to its stockholders, and at the time of retiring this company had nearly three times as much surplus as it had when Mr. Richardson first took hold as Secretary and Manager. Since January, 1892, he has been with the National Fire Insurance Company, and has become associated with h’red S. James, General Western Agent in this city, in the capacity above named, and is doing most efficient work. Socially Mr. Richardson is a member of the Sigma Chi College Fraternitv: M asonic bodies — Knights Templar, Scottish Rite, Thirty-second Degree Mason, and mem- lier Medina Temple Mystic Shrine. In the month of January, 1888, Mr. Richardson mar- ried Miss Maud Lecklider, daughter of Dr. L. G. Lecklider, of Greenville, Ohio. Two interesting children have been born to this marriage, Lucy and Robert. At the ju'esent time he resides at 2141 Jackson Boulevard, Chicago. GEORGE D. DORNTN MANAOKR OK I'llK NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD AND SPRINGFIELD FIRK AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. The history of this country is filled with the deeds and doings of self-made men, and jM'ominent among them is George D. Dornin, Manager of the Pacific Department of National Eire Insurance Company of Hartford, and Springheld Eire and IMarine Insurance Comjiany of Springheld, Massachusetts, who, marking out his career in youth, grasped all opj^ortunities for bettering his hnancial and social condition, and as a result is now on a smooth sea and floating with a prosjierous tide. Mr. Dornin is a natiYe of New 'f'ork City, liorn December 30, 1830, and is now residing at “Oakmead, ” h'ulton, Sonoma County, California. Young Dornin early eYinced a strong liking for study and made such good use of 174 T ?I E LI N 14 E R W RITE R. his time in the public schools of his native place that he was far ahead of his classes when thirteen years old. He then left school to l)ecome office boy for a Wall street broker, but his parents expected that he would return to school after a year or so of business experience. The opportunity never came and the Wall street broker’s office was changed for a position as clerk in the house of Joseph Dupre & Company, importers of French goods, where I\Ir. Dornin remained two years. In the fall of i.SgS, while holding that position, the news of the discovery of gold in California reached the Atlantic cities. The natural impulsiveness of a boy of eighteen to see the world was augmented by the possibility of great wealth to be had for the digging, and as a consecjuence young Dornin joined the “argonauts” in search of the modern “golden heece.” On the 3d of hTbruary, 1849, he embarked on the ship “Panama,” commanded- by Captain P. J. Dodfish, and started on the long trip around the “Horn.” In those days “anything which could float” was put upon the sea to undertake this voyage. Shijis were purchased and fitted out by mining companies, or chartered for the voyage out and back. Stocks of merchandise, with ready-made houses and store buildings, furnished the miscellaneous cargo of many of these vessels. There were two hundred and three souls constituting the passenger list of the “Iffinama, ’ and of these four were women. The voyage was not particularly eventful, the usual stormy “doubling the cape” and three weeks of waiting in the port of Talcahuano, Chili, being the only features to break the monotony. On the 8th of August, 1849, after a voyage of i86 days, the vessel reached San Francisco, and young Dornin stepped ashore without a dollar, what little money he had left after paying his passage l)eing invested in Chili, in part to replenish a rather scanty provision list. There were many others in the same condition. San Francisco was then in an embryotic condition. Tents were used for dwellings and the sand hills which flanked the cove, upon which the future great city was built, were utilized for all sorts of avocations. Lumber at $300 or $400 per thousand feet, and carpenter wages at $16 per day, precluded the lavish use of expensive buildings. The paramount object with all was to get to the mines. Without a trade or a profession, young Dornin earned his first money by painting a wagon, receiving five dollars in gold dust for this work. He was very glad to get it, as it pointed the way to earn a livelihood as a sign painter. The early advent of the severe rainy season of 1849 brought reports of discomfort and destitution from the mines, and Mr. Dornin postponed his trip to that charmed section until spring. One day he met in the streets an old New York chum who had established himself as the proprietor of a lodging house and restaurant. i\Ir. Dornin became his partner, but a month or so later he formed a partnership with the baker of the estab- lishment and furnished pies (at handsome ju-ofit) to the tent-dwellers of the city. His partner having decided to go to the mines, Dornin was thrown on his own resources. He promiFly leased a piece of ground, put up with his own hands a lunch counter and stand, and the “City Hall Lunch” became a feature and a profitable one in San I'rancisco life. Later he formed a partnership wfith another New ’^'ork boy, Henry I. Beers (now a prominent banker of Oil City, Pennsylvania), in the same business, and this finally developed into a more extensive restaurant, and later into general merchandising. The entire stock and store was consumed May 4, 1851, in one of the great conflagrations for w'hich early San Francisco was famous, and “Dornin and Beers" closed up their part- 170 T I I R underwrite R. nership relations. Mr. Dornin then tried paper hanging, sign painting, etc., which was fairly remunerative. His chance to go to the mines came in the spring of 1852, and as he had been connected with the jewelry business, he took a stock of watches and jewelry to Nevada City. Later he engaged in mining and still later again in merchandising, but he finally sold out and moved to Grass Valley, where he put out his sign as a “daguerreotypist. ” He was married in this place October 2, 1853, to Miss Sarah A. Baldwin, of “Mayflower” ancestry, and their first child, George W., was born in December, 1854. All his be- longings were again destroyed by fire in September, 1855, and in the winter of that year he moved to North San Juan, where he held positions as postmaster, express and telegraph agent, stage proprietor and mail contractor, and in October, 1863, became connected as Local Agent with the Phoenix of Hartford. In the fall of 1865 he was elected to the Legislature, and his position as such brought to his attention sundry in- surance bills, and his advice was sought by colleagues. Later he took a position in San Francisco as Special Agent and Adjuster for the Phoenix and iditna Insurance com- panies. In 1867 he was again elected to the Legislature and at the close of the session he moved with his family to San Francisco. In the spring of 1871 he became the Secretary of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, in which capacity he adjusted and settled the losses of that company in the great Chicago fire. In July, 1887, he was tendered and accepted the Pacific Coast management of the Lion P'ire Insurance Company of London, and 1884 the Washington of Boston was placed under his jurisdiction. This company was subsequently reinsured by the National P'ire of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1886 he visited London to arrange for the transfer of the management of the Imperial jointly with the Lion and Washington. The alliance between the English and American companies in their Pacific De- partment was terminated in the summer of 1891 and Mr. Dornin retained the man- agement of the National. To this was added in July, 1895, Coast Department of the Springfield P'. and M. Insurance Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. In his political views Mr. Dornin is a stalwart Republican, and believes in its record and its destiny. His sons, George W. and John C., are insurance men, the former as Assistant Manager and the latter as Special Agent of the National and Springfield. His daughters are Mrs. Crayton W. Wilkinson, Mrs. Rev. George G. Fldredge and Mrs. Hubert Bryant. C'lFORGE W. DORNIN ASSISTANT MANAGER OF THE NATIONAE EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD, AND THE SPRINGEIEED FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. A faithful, painstaking and accurate official is George W. Dornin, Assistant Manager of the National P'ire Insurance Company of Hartford and Springfield P'ire and Marine Insurance Company of Massachusetts, and those in authority hace not been slow to recognize and acknowledge his fitness for his present positions. He owes his nativity to California, having been born in Grass Wile}', Nevada County, December 19, 1854. Until the year 1867 he remained in his native county, but in the fall of I FIRE A N i:) MARIN E. 179 that year he removed with his parents to San Francisco, and in 1873 graduated from the Oakland 1 ligh Scliool. 'I'he same year he entered the State University at Berkeley. Alter a term as special student, he entered the employ of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, in its draughting and bridge department, but after a service of nearly three years he became connected with the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, of which his father was then Secretar}', and on the appointment of the latter to the management of the Lion I'ire Insurance Company, in 1881, he was transferred to the service (d that and its associate company as chief clerk. From that time until the dissolution of the alliance between the Lion, Imperial and National Insurance companies, in i8gi, Mr. Dornin gained much valual)le experience and a thorough knowledge of insurance matters, which have placed him in the front rank of live business men. In i8pi Mr. Dornin entered the service of the National Insurance Company as .Vssistant Manager, which title he also holds tor the Sjn'ingfield Insurance Company, which is associated with the National in its Coast Department. He is doing excellent work for the comjiany, for his mental \’igor, executive will and generous heart have combined to make him successful, llis mathematical and mechanical training especially fits him for handling the details of a business covering twelve States and Territories. Tllh: Nb'AV IfNCL.VND P>URGLARV INSURANCF COMPANY OF P,OSTON, MASSAC IIUSFTTS. d'he New Itngiand Burglary Insurance Company, of which Mr. William II. Brewster is President, was organized by that gentleman in the latter part of 1895, for the pur- pose of transacting a general burglary insurance business throughout the United States. The company has entered a field heretofore untrodden by any underwriter as a sjiecialty. Departments have been established, covering practically the whole of the United States, and, through such dejiartments, local representatives will be appointed embracins'' in the neifP.\NY. SiTPPLEMENT Tl) Tin-; InSLTRANPE TrMKi?' FIRE AN D MARI N E. 185 sylvania Fire Insurance Company, which position was won upon his merits. He displays perspicuous and able management, and closely observing every department of the work, gives imiHilse to everything by the magic of his own energy. He is skilled in the whole matter of insurance and the clearness of his judgment and the correctness of his methods are shown in the steadily increasing business of the company. President Benson is a native of Philadelphia, born December r, 1841, and when nineteen years old was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Soon after this he became clerk in a wholesale grocery house in Philadelphia, but his patriotism was aroused by the hrst call for troops l>y President Lincoln, and he entered the military service of the United States as a volunteer, enlisting iVpril 24, 1861, for three months. In 1862 he re-entered the service as a commissioned officer, and was mustered out in July, 1865, as brevet-Major U. S. Volunteers, having in the meantime honorably par- ticipated in the famous campaigns of the Army of the Potomac and the James. He also served in the National Guard of Pennsylvania nine years, from 1868 to 1887, and during that time held with marked credit the position of Colonel of the First Regiment. His unusual bravery and signal abilities as a commanding officer are well remembered in connection with the perilous position occujiied by his regiment in the memorable Roundhouse emergency in the Pittsburg riots of 1877. In the year 1866 Colonel Benson re-engaged in merchandising, and followed the importation and jobbing of teas as a member of a firm, doing business both in Phila- delphia and New York. His connection with this continued until 1881. In the mean- time he had become a Director of the Insurance Company of the State of Penns)’lvania and the Franklin Fire Insurance Company and served in those corporations for a number of years. In February, 1881, he was elected \hce-President of the Pennsylvania Fire, and in August of the same year assumed the active duties of the position, since which time he has devoted his untiring energies with much success to the interests and growth of that worthy corporation. On the 19th of September, 1890, he was elected as the successor of the late John Devereux in the executive office of the company and now holds that responsible position. The tjualities that have made the Pennsylvania what it is have been continued under Colonel Benson’s administration, and improvements are constantly taking place. At present Colonel Benson is prominently identihed with a number of important interests in Philadelphia apart from his connection with the Pennsylvania h'ire, being a Director of the Western National Bank, the Real Instate Trust Comjmny, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, the Catawissa Railroad, the North Pennsyl- vania Railroad and the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company. He is also Man- ager of the Western Savings Fund Society, the Merchants’ Fund Society, the Mercantile Beneficial Association and the Society of the Alumni of the PIniversity of Pennsylvania. He is also Vice-President of the Union League of Philadelphia, Trustee of the West Spruce Street Presbyterian Church, and Trustee of the Presbyterian Church in America. Besides these the Colonel is actively identified with leading clubs of Phila- delphia, and is otherwise jirominent in social life. His universal high standing and excep- tional popularity both in and out of the underwriting ranks speaks well as to his character. CHARLES HART BARin MANAGER OF WESTERN DEl’ARTMEXT OE PENNSVI. VANIA FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. lAiterprising measures and jirogressive methods are business requirements of the nineteenth century, and few of the younger men engaged in the insurance industry have sliown these qualihcations in a more marked degree than Charles Hart Barry, AI anager of the Western Department of the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia. From the start he displayed unusual adaptability for the business and has already gained a firm foothold in insurance circles. In all matters pertaining to insurance he takes a foremost place and is known as a young man of more than ordinary ability and business acumen. Mr. Barry is a native of Illinois, born in Alton, November 15, 1857, and the son of Amasa S. Barry, who, during his life, was considered one of the best adjusters of fire losses in the West. Young Barry, no doubt, inherited a great share of his love for insurance from his father, and has displayed much of the ability that made his father noted. In addition to a good practical education received in the public school of Alton, Illinois, Charles Barry attended the University of Illinois and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1877. He was always a quiet, unostentatious boy, and when at school, or when he had the chance, applied himself closely to his books. Because of a natural liking for underwriting he entered the local agency of F. Hewitt, Alton, Illinois, in March, 1877, and remained with that gentleman until October, when he was induced by David Beveridge, of the firm of Beveridge & Harris, at that time Managers of the Northwestern Department of Niagara Insurance Company, to enter his office. There Mr. Barry remained until 1880, occupying nearly every position in the office, but upon the retirement of Air. Harris he assumed the duties of that Sfentleman. In the same vear Air. Barry transferred his services to the Phoenix of Fondon, and became Special Agent and Adjuster for the States of Illinois, Indiana and Alichigan. Upon the establishment of the Western Department under Alanager Clarke, Air. Barry's field was reduced to Illinois and Alichigan. In 1884 he became State Agent and Adjuster for Southern Illinois with headquarters at Alton for the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company and the Insurance Company of North America. Afterward, in 1887, he was transferred to the State Agency of Alichigan for the same companies. He soon became recognized as a wide-awake, reliable and most trustworthy insurance man and in 1890 accepted the invitation of J. F. Downing to remove to Erie, Penn- sylvania, and become a member of the firm of J. F. Downing & Company, Western Alanagers of the above mentioned companies, and on account of his unusual adaptability, was given charge of the underwriting department of the office. In the year 1895, tlie retirement of the Pennsylvania Fire, Air. Barry accepted the management of the New Western Department of that company with heachiuarters at Chicago, having associated with him in the business Air. John II. Davis as joint manager. Their knowledge of the insurance business, close attention to its details, and energetic methods are securing for the company they represent, marked expansion of business. Ihissessed with a praiseworth}' ambition to succeed thev have seized all ojiportunities for furthering the interests of the company and signal success has attended their efforts. Air. Barry’s ojfinion of secret organizations resulted in joining the Alasonic Fraternity and he is now a Knight Templar and a member of Beh'idere Commandery, No. ISli 188 T H E U N D E R W RITE R. Since early boyhood he has been a regular attendant at the Unitarian Church. In politics he supports the principles and platform of the Republican party. In the year 18S4 he married Miss Ida i\I. Bateman, of Alton, Illinois, and they have one child, a daughter. CLARENCE KNOWLES GENERAL SOUTHERN MANAGER PENNSYLVANIA INSURANCE COMPANY AND DELAWARE INSURANCE COMPANY. Clarence Knowles has been for years recognized in the Southern field as a leading underwriter, in the definition that comprehends in its extensive grasp personal popularity, enterprise and a thorough knowledge of the profession. His career, to the meridian of life, has been unclouded by failure and unmarred by mistakes. Mr. Knowles was born in Elorida, where he grew up amid the troublesome time of war then existing between the States. The disturbed conditions of his surroundings were not propitious for the pursuit of study to which his birth entitled him, and in this respect as a boy young Knowles had to Vike his chances with other youths of his State. Fortunately for him, he was endow'ed whth natural uifts of mind that enabled him to absorb thoroimhlv the groundwork of education and in later years to expand beneficially as he grew older. It was well it was so, for at the close of the war, by reason of circumstances not his own making and which he could not control, he found himself not only thrown on his own resources, but he became a supjiort to others. Thus it fell out when a mere youth he accepted a situation as clerk in the office of Knowles Bros., insurance agents, of I’ensacola. His ready aptitude in mastering the details of his duties, his correct and intelligent methods of business, attracted the attention of Alexander Stoddart, General Agent of the New York Underwriters. Stoddart invited him to New York, giving him a position in his general office. It was soon discovered that Knowles was too valuable to retain in an office performing the w'ork of a clerk; so he was forthwith dispatched to the field, being assigned the sujiervision of the Carolinas, as Special Agent of the N ew York Underwriters, with headcjuarters at Columbia, South Carolina. He eaiiv attained the reputation of an adjuster who combined careful, painstaking, investigating t|ualities with brilliancy and dash in surmounting difficulties, which brought out the best results. At the time of the great Chicago fire, although a mere youth, he was detailed by the New York Underwriters to assist in the adjustment of their losses there. This mark of confidence was not misplaced, for although arrayed against the sharp, shrewd professionals of the West, he held his own and reflected credit upon the section from which he came. As a Special Agent Knowles was as successful as an adjuster. In the face of changing phases in the policy of underwriting, by his personal popularity and magnetism, he held his own and steadily improved. In 1882 the necessity of forming a protective association among Southern underwriters was apparent to all. It was at this time that the Southeastern Tariff Association was formed. Special Agent Knowles was a prime mover in this business and was unanimously selected to be its official head. For six years he held the presidency of the South- eastern Tariff Association, and it is largely due to his untiring energy and wise admin- istration that the companies to-day enjo}- the benefits of that great and successful association. 1 le retired from office voluntarily and under the protest of the members, who, in grateful remembrance of his services, presented to him a testimonial as hand- some as it was exjiressive of their esteem and admiration. K»0 THE UNDERWRITER. In 1883 the companies composing the New York Underwriters’ Agency were dis- solved. The first move of these former partners was to secure the services of Special Agent Knowles. He refused a great salary from the New York Underwriters, accept- ing the management of the Southern Department of the Germania Fire Insurance Company, then controlled by his warm personal friend. President Rudolph Garrigue. When the Germania, at the death of iMr. Garrigue, passed to other hands, the company with- drew from the South. Manager Knowles reinsured this business in the Delaware, which company he represented as Southern Manager. He also represented at this time the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company, of which he is still the Southern Manager. These two companies, under his management, have been successful in the South, each year increasing in business and profitable results. Mr. Knowles is of fine appearance, pleasing manner, and one upon whom the passing years set lightly. In the South his accjuaintance is widespread and his social position is of the best. In the city of Atlanta, Georgia, where he lives, he is facile princej)s. As an evidence of his popularity and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen he has been recently elected a member of the Georgia Legislature from the Metroj^olitan District of the State. That he deserves this success no one will deny, and he is so absolutely free from the little meannesses of life that his success is not envied. Above all, he is blessed in that fortunate marital condition that in this world brings true happiness, and in all respects by his own efforts he is to-day bathed in the sunlight of prosperity that bids fair to last always. T. FDWARD POPE I’ACIFIC COAST MANA(;KR of 'HIF: PFNNSVLVAXIA FIRK 1^■SURA^XE COMFAXV. .Vmong those whose career in the insurance business has been rendered conspicuous bv honorable methods, careful attention shown throughout, and the number of years ])assed in it, is Mr. T. Ivdward I’ope, Coast Manager of the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company. Until recently Mr. I’ope was with the Tvtna Insurance Company, having started with that company about twenty-three years ago as bookkeeper. His past record is an endorsement of character and his merited success has been gained through [)rinciples of sound business integrity and general ability. Personally he is too well known to require any extended notice in these pages. I le is jiopular with local agents, and his long experience as an underwriter has confirmed those conservative methods in underwriting which make for success in the long run. Mr. Pope was born in the city of Ouincy, Illinois, in 1846, and is a graduate of Knox College. Following this he embarked in merchandising and continued this for several years. He began his insurance career as bookkeeper under General Agent Poardman of the .Ltna, and when George \\k Spencer resigned as Special Agent of the .-Etna, Mr. Ikrpe succeeded him, and fiu' a number of years served the compan}- as a Special Agent and Adjuster in this field. During General .\gent Boardman’s year and a half absence in Europe, several years ago, Mr. Pope had full charge of the /Etna’s affairs, and was made Assistant General Agent on Mr. Boardman’s return. He remained with that comjxany until May, i8yb, since which time he has gi\-en his full time to the building up of the Pennsylvania’s interests in the West. 192 THE UNDERWRITER. Mr. Pope went to California in 1874 and has resided in that state ever since. He makes his home in Oakland, and is often prominently connected with various under- takings which interest public-spirited men and contribute largely to the public weal. “To every local agent on the coast the name of Pope is familiar,” says the Adjuster of San Francisco, which paper adds that he is “personally known to hundreds of them and by reputation to all. ” By reinsuring the coast business of the Phenix of Brooklyn, the Pennsylvania Fire has secured a valuable agency plant and has placed a superior man at its head. CHARLES C. LLPTLE VICE-PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF PIIENIX INSURANCE COMPANY OF BROOKLYN. Of the presiding geniuses of the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn, IMr. Charles C. Little may, with fairness, be singled out as a type of the men who have had the oversight of this sterling organization from the start. He is clear-headed, bold, acute, far-sighted and it is such men as this who laid the corner stone of what is now a mighty structure. It is no post merel}' of honor that Mr. Little holds, being Vice- President and Secretary of this vast concern, but he transacts business all over the United States, and out of it, and is a very busy man. He was born in the city of New York, June 13, 1855, and in addition to the instruction received under private tutors, attended Mobile College and subsequently an academy on the Hudson river. His tastes and habits in early life, outside of those required by study, were principally hunting and fishing. When it became necessary or him to select some occupation in life, he first engaged in merchandising in New York City, but only continued this for a short time. On the 6th of September, 1873, he entered the home office of the Phenix Insurance Company, and although he began as clerk, his abilities were soon recognized and his promotion to higher positions were not long in coming. He was in the agency departments of the New England and IMiddle States for a certain period but later became Assistant General Agent, then Assistant Secretary, then Secretary, and recently accepted the dual position of Vice-Ih'esident and Secretary. His was a promotion well merited, for he is essentially a practical man and a graduate from the ranks. Mr. Eittle is an authority on hre protection, and has given a great deal of attention to the equipment and insurance of improved risks. His work in this line has been one of profit to the Phenix and to fire insurance, for it was the first stock company to write large lines on ]irotected risks, and it was largely through its inspection department that the Factory Associations of the East and South came into existence. Charles C. Little is a most estimable man and is as well liked as well known. His career has been a prosperous one and he merits all his good fortune. He is now a resident of Larchmont, New York, and is a prominent and influential citizen there. He is chief of the Larchmont Phre Department, the wealthiest volunteer organization in the United States, and he is the Secretary and a Trustee of the Larchmont Yacht Clul), which is known the world over. JONATHAN \V. BARLEY (iENKRAL AC;EXT OE THE FHEXIX IXSLH sffr '■■ liT 1 - ' . !TCvP!j- ■ ‘ t*^ % ^ H < • ■ •> WA--sf*V'. • ■ V -J|. 'v Si-V:.-. '■‘i V 7 >’’ tv;- .< ■ . ■ »■ ■ . i » '/,' ' ^.■f^ F... ' ;.i. ' At, A*;'? •' •«:. -|^ &?* «* .;- ." ?' ■: 'te- .tp, ' • f^.V7'^‘. ■’" :' '■ ^•! . ,•,;« »■ \»tr:h\i.-.. \ p ■;, • . ■ xtii- •‘A I- 'f f^>, , 1 , ^ . ♦.'■ . wC: r.« • ^t-- '%.\, 'h\- ’'*.- A. '•* • rAN^■ OE BROOKLVN. Harry C. Stockdell was born May i, 1854, in Woodford County, Kentucky. As early as 1869 he w'as clerk in the insurance office of J. W. Cochran & Son, w'ho were then General Agents of the Franklin Insurance Company of Philadelphia for the entire South. In 1875 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and held a position with Messrs. Low, Putnam & Low, who were then General Agents for the New Orleans iMutual Insurance Association, which wtis composed of several local New Orleans companies, which issued joint policies. His first service in the held was as Special Agent of the Georgia Home, and following in similar service with the Petersburg Savings and Insurance Company of Virginia, the Insurance Company of North America, under Captain Edward S. Gay, Manager, the Oueen Insurance Company of England, until, in 1882, he was appointed Special Agent of the Phenix of Brooklyn. On January i, 1885, he was made General Agent of the Southeastern Department of the Phenix, which position he has held since that lime — twelve years. He served as an Alderman in the General Council in the city of Atlanta during the years 1884, 1885 and 1886. During that time he wxis Chairman of the Board of Eire Masters. In this position he aided very largely in the establishment of a paid fire department, and it was through his influence that the jn'esent efficient chief, Captain W. R. Joyner, was put in charge. In December, 1892, Mr. Stockdell w'as again elected to the City Council, to serve as Councilman from the Second Ward, and for the years 1893 '894 was Chairman of the Einance Committee of the city government. In January, 1896, he was elected a member of the Board of Police Commissioners of the city of Atlanta, and served in that capacity for three years. He is president of several institutions and social clubs, having been the organizer and first President of the Capital City Clul). He has devoted very much of his spare time to Masonry, and has the honor of having received every degree in both the York and Scottish i 4 t:es — being at this time a 33d Degree iMason. He is very active in the affairs of the Southeastern Tariff Association, and aided very largely in the organization of that institution. 1 ). W. C. SKILTON PRESIDENT OF THE PIKENIX INSURANCE COMPANY, OE HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. Necessity sharpened the wits and broadened the mentality of the many emigrants who docked to this country from the old world in early times, and it left its imprint on succeeding generations even unto the present day. Among those who have achieved positions of eminence liy reason of their unswerving integrity and conspicuous ability, none are more worthy of prominent mention than I). W. C. Skilton, who, like many of his contemporaries among the successful business men of the present epoch, traces his ancestry to old colonial stock. Mr. Skilton is a product of Plymouth, Litchfield County, Connecticut, born January II, 1839, and came of a worthy jieople who were first prominent in the development of Connecticut colony and later of the State. When still a mere lad he entered upon a business career as a clerk in a dry goods house of Hartford, but a few years later decided to devote his life to fire underwriting. His first duties in this line began in October, 1861, as a clerk in the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, but in the following year he responded to the call of his country and became a lieutenant of the 2 2d Kegi- ment of Connecticut \Mlunteers. In 1863 he received honorable discharge, returned to his former occupation, and December i, 1867, was made Secretary of the Phoenix Insurance Company, of Hartford, a jiosition he ably filled for twenty-one years. From August I, 1888, to the following September ii, he served as \dce-President and Sec- retary, after which he was made Vice-President and acting President, and finally on I'ebruary 2, 1891, was made the chief officer of the company in fact as well as in name. The Phoenix is regarded, and justly so, as one of the greatest fire insurance com- panies of America, and its policies are found in the places of business and the homes of the rich and poor alike. Since the connection of Mr. Skilton with the company in the several capacities about $30,000,000 have been paid out to indemnify those who have suftered from fire, and the capital stock has been raised to $2,000,000, while the assets, $5,218,499.47, are increasing in greater proportion than the capital. Mr. Skilton has been closely identified with the great development of fire under- writing in this country, and particularly with the success of the company with which he is connected, and his own interests were never considered when those of his company were in question. His life has been devoted to his work and his loyalty to every in- terest committed to his care has led him to assume burdens from which many men would have shrunk, but his shoulders have fitted themselves to his load and every duty has been discharged with painstaking precision. From 1881 to 1883 Mr. Skilton was Secretary of the National Board of Fire Plnderwriters, \dce-President from 1884 to 1890, and was then I’resident for three years, at the end of which time he declined a re-election. While thus connected his work was important and ably performed, but his happiest hours have been spent in his own office in connection with the Phcenix Insurance Company. He was a member of the committee which prejiared the New York standard policy, which has been accepted as a model in many of the other States. Mr. Skilton has been a potent factor in the business life of Hartford and he is one of the Corporators and Trustees of the State Savings Bank, and is one of the Directors of the Hartford National Bank. Socially he has connected himself with the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of the Grand Army of the Kepublic, and of the Hartford Club. ‘JOB > 202 T HE UNDER W RITE R. Mr. Skilton has received the liighest honors it is possible to bestow on an under- writer in this country, and of him it cannot be said that the company has made the man, for he is possessed of such (|ualities as to win him respect and confidence in whatsoever sjfiiere he might be placed. J. HALSEY DE WOLE I'RF.SIDENT OK THK PROVIDENXE W.VSII IX(;T( )N IXSUR.\XCE CO.MI’AXV OE RR( )VIDEXCE, RHODE ISLAXD. |. Halsey De Wolf was born at Bristol, Rhode Island, November 23, 1836. His parents were Dr. John James De Wolf and Annette Halsey De Wolf (nee Winthrop), and through the mother his descent is direct from (iovernor Winthrop of Colonial fame. Mr. De WMlf’s education was obtained in private and public schools, and at lE'own Ibiiversity, in Providence. After leaving college, he passed a winter in Cuba, and, u})on his return, he commenced his business training in the mercantile house of Messrs. Lawrence Stone & Co., who failed in the jranic of 1857. He then took an extended trip through the Southern States, and in 1858 he entered the office of the Gaspee fibre and Marine Insurance Company. He was soon called to the office of the Humboldt fibre Insurance Company of New York, and in i860 he was elected Assistant Secretary of the Providence Washington Insurance Company. In 1863 he was chosen President of the American Insurance Company of Providence, which company was successful until the Chicago fire in 1871, which caused such wide- spread ruin, forced it to retire from business. He was then made fi’resident of the Newjiort fi'ire and blarine Insurance Company, and when, upon the death of Mr. John Kingslniry in 1875, the Providence Washingotn and the Newport were merged into one, Mr. De Wolf became President of the consolidated companies, which kept the name of the older institution, the Providence Washington having been organized in the year 1799. Since 1875, Mr. De Wolf has retained the office of President, and the business of the compaii}' in lioth its fire and marine branches has been widely and profitably extended. During the Civil Wbir he saw service as a jirivate with the loth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers. Mr. De Wolf has never held public office, but has been associated with numerous lioards and societies, and he is at present a member of the Ifxecutive Council of the Providence Board of Trade. He has always been connected with the Protestant Episcopal Church, and he is a vestryman of St. John’s Church in Providence. CHARLES DENISON DUNLOP .^E■\XA(;ER OE WES'l'ERX I ) E I’A R'l’M EXT OE l'RO\Il)EXCE WASIIIXGTOX IXSURAXCE COMEAXV. The story of a life of a successful man, however sketchily portrayed and however skillfully told, is always an interesting and useful one, and always disappointing because of its lack of detail, 'fihe force of well directed energy, unceasing effort and decided 204 T II E UN I) E 14 W RITE R. purpose is strikingly illustrated in the career of Charles D. Dunlop, who holds the responsible position of Manager of the Western Department of the Providence Wash- ington Insurance Company. Careful in detail, faithful in practice, and prompt to act, he hlls his present position in a manner that inspires enthusiasm. Mr. Dunlop is a native ot Missouri, born in Lexington, January i8, 1863, but since the spring of 1895 has been a resident of Kenwood, Chicago. His father. Right Rev. George K. Dunlop, S. T. 1 )., Episcopal Bishop of New Mexico, was born in Ireland of Scotch parentage. His mother, Mary W. (Cobb) Dunlop, was born in Tarrytown, New York, and is descended from a prominent old New England family that settled in Connecticut prior to the Revolutionary War. During his boyhood days Charles I). Dunlop attended the schools of St. Eouis and later those of Philadelphia. He took a special course in chemistry and mining, and after leaving college took up the calling of analytical chemistry and assaying in Leadville, Colorado, in 1882. His first experience in the insurance line was in Denver, 1884, when he entered the office of Cobb, Wilson d: Company, of that city. In 1886 he entered the service of the Traders’ Insurance Comjrany of Chicago, as Special Agent in Illinois and Missouri, but changed, in 1888, to the same position with the Commercial Union Assurance Company, having charge of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Kansas. Impelled by excellent and praiseworthy amlfition, he soon displayed more than the ordinary ability for the lousiness, and, being placed in positions of trust and responsibility, grew familiar with the financial processes which mold the features of a great and successful corporation. On the ist of October, 1891, he was appointed Manager of the Mountain Department of the Providence Washington Insurance Company, with headquarters at Denver. On the ist of May, 1895, Mountain Department was consolidated with the Western Department and Mr. Dunlop was transferred to Chicago, where he assumed charge of the Western Dejiartment, which had been greatly enlarged. Mr. Dunlop's travels have been confined to a pretty extensive accjuaintance with the Phiited States. Mexico and Canada. His marriage with Miss Rosemary Conwell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was celebrated in the year 1892, and has resulted in the birth of two children, I)oth girls. GEORGE W. BURCHELL SKCRltTARV OF QUEEN INSURANCE COMPANV OE AMERICA, NEW VORK. As the living present ever excites a livelier interest than the past, so something about the gentlemen who are the officers of this substantial concern comes more than apropos. The career of iMr. George W. Burchell, Secretary of the Oueen Insurance Comiiany of America, is one worthy of emulation on the jiart of 3’ounger underwriters. He has achieved success b}’ honest work, and his clean methods, sound judgment and unusual cajiabilities have won the resjiect and confidence of all. His services in his jiresent position have recjuired great discretion, good temper and superior ability, all possessed in an unusual degree by Mr. Burchell. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. i\Iay 31, 1850, and is at present a resident of that city. In the jniblic schools of Brookh n he received a good practical education, and subsecpiently started out to fight life’s battles for himself as an office boy with the 20(5 THE U N I ) E R W R I T E R. Niagara Insurance Company, of New "\’ork. This was in November, 1864, and he remained with this company until August, 1S69, when he gave up the insurance business and began a mercantile career. This he followed with fair success until November, 1871, when his love for the fire insurance business overcame his desire for merchandising and he went with the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn in an office capacity. In january, 1874, he began traveling for the Phenix as Special Agent, and carried on the business of the company in a very satisfactory manner until May, 1881, when he went with the Oueen of Liverpool as General Agent. In 1887 he was appointed Deputy Manager of the same company, and retained that position and title until the retirement of the Oueen in 1891. At that date the Queen Insurance Company of America was organized and started business. Mr. Burchell's experience in insurance lines and his far-sightedness caused him to l)ecome connected with this institution. He was one of the original incorporators of that company and one of the original directors. He was also elected Secretary of the Oueen of America at its organization, and that position retains at the present time. The Oueen commenced business November i, 1891, reinsuring the outstanding American and Canadian business of the Oueen of Liv- erpool, and being in fact the company’s successor in this country. James A. McDonald, the American Manager of the Oueen, was elected President of the new company, with Edward ¥. Beddall, \hce-President, and George W. Burchell, Secretai'}', as before mentioned. The Directors are: Samuel Sloan, Frederick D. Tappen, Rosewell G. Rolston, John Sinclair, James Stillman, Osgood Welsh, David Bingham, Henry Hentz, William B. Kendall, William Nash, Edward F. Beddall, George W. Burchell, James A. McDonald and Joseph M. Rogers. The capital stock is $500,000 and surplus $1,000,000. Aside from his duties in the insurance line, Mr. Burchell has found time to take part in all enterprises for the advancement of Brookl}’n and for the good of the com- munity. He is a director of the Brooklyn Salvage Corps and is interested in other directions. In his social relations he has been prominent and influential. He became a member of the Aurora Grata Lodge, Masonic P'raternit}’, in 1879, and in 1880 De Witt Clinton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and the De Witt Clinton Commandery, Knights Templar, in the last named year. He is also a member of Kismet Temple, of Brooklyn, A. A. O. N. M. S., having joined the same in 1893. political views Mr. Burchell is a staunch advocate of Republican principles and has always been interested in the welfare of that party. He is progressive in his views, well read and well posted on all interesting topics, and a man of influence. SAMUEL YOER TUPPER S(JUTIIKRN MANAGER OF (,)UEFX INSURANCE COMPANY OK A.MERICA. 'S’outh is the great stimulator, the feeder, the tonic of the mighty system and network of commercial and financial enterprise. Wdiilst age furnishes the trunk of the tree, youth is the verdure that causes the leaves to burst forth and instill the industrial ]xith with new vim and energy, 'bins fact is essentially felt in the insurance world, where one of the youngest and most active operators is Samuel Y. Tupper, Southern Manager of the Oueen Insurance Comjxmy. At an early age he has achieved that success in his jn'ofession which for a life time men often strive in vain. 208 THE UNDER W RITE R. That he should have enjoyed this great fortune among so many competitors is of itself abundant testimony of his excellent abilities. Mr. Tupper was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and there his early boyhood was passed. He belongs to the well known South Carolina family of that name, and is a son of the late Samuel Y. Tupper who for many years was President of the Charles- ton (S. C. ) Chamber of Commerce and a prominent local underwriter of that city. Our subject graduated from the University of Nashville, Tennessee, and his first experience in the insurance business was in his father’s general office where for several years he served an apprenticeship, as it were. Finally he was admitted into the firm under the hrm title of S. Y. Tupper & Son. Later he retired from the hrm and in 1884 was appointed Special Agent of the Southeastern Department of the Phenix of Brooklyn, having immediate supervision over \brginia and the Carolinas. In this position he was eminently successful. After eight years on the road for the company, or in 1891, he was called by the unanimous vote of the Southeastern Tariff Association to the important office of Secretary of the asso- ciation. In the same year he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to assume charge of the office which he held until July, 1894. It was during his incumbency that the association reached the highest point of importance and efficiency, and it was during that time that its territory was extended to cover Virginia and Louisiana. In 1894 declined a renomination as secretary, in order to accept the position as Manager of the Central and Southern Department of the Queen, then newly estab- lished at Atlanta, and that position he is now holding. His field comprises the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. The department handles about #450,000 to #500,000 business annually and is favorably located at all desirable points where he can retain a strong hold upon the agents. In May, 1896, Mr. Tupper was unanimously elected to the presidency of the Southeastern Tariff Association. This but a brief account of the life of this young gentleman who has run the gamut of his profession and who has filled with honor and ability almost every grade. Mr. Tupper is a fine underwriter, convincing debater, and his conversation is both brilliant and entertaining. It is only necessary to add that in private life his success has been as great as in public, for he enjoys to the full all the happiness that belongs to domestic life. HON. FREDERICK COOK TRESIDENT OF THE ROCHESTER GERMAN INSURANCE COMPANY. lion. Frederick Cook's career, as distinguished as it has been successful, affords an illustration how. under the United States form of government, even the humblest citizen may attain the highest positions of honor and trust. His life is an example of a self- made man, his work the result of his individual efforts, and his achievements the crown- ing glory of youthful struggles. Mr. Cook's birth occurred December 2, 1833, at Wbldbad, WYiertemberg, Ger- man ^•. hi IS father, a contractor and a man of rare personal characteristics, placed his son in one of the best schools of the neighborhood, with a view of giving him a thorough collegiate training. When I'rederick was tv’elve years old his father died and he was k 210 THE UNDERWRITER. thrown on his own resources. In 1848 he came to this country, resided a short time witli a married sister in IRdlalo and in Batavia, but later settled in Rochester, New York, which has since been his home. For many years he was conductor on a railroad, but he tendered his resignation in 1871, after laying the foundation for his fortune. In 1872 he crossed the ocean to his old home in the Black Forest, and this has been his habit nearly every year since. lie has been a stanch Democrat all his life, and the offices he has held have been numerous. In 1870 he was appointed Excise Commissioner of Rochester, After- ward he was aj:>pointed Judge Advocate with rank of Colonel of 7th Division, N. G. S. N. Y., and in 1875 he was made Assistant Adjutant General and Chief of Staff of th e same Division. For five years he was Vice-President of the Bartholomay Brewing Company, but after this was bought up by an English syndicate, Mr. Cook was made President, a position he still holds. In January, 1876, he w'as made President of the Rochester German Insurance Company, and was, in January last (1896), re-elected for the twenty-first time. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at St. Eouis which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for President, and in 1880 he officiated in a similar capacity in Cincinnati, where he served as Vice-President, repre- senting the State of New ’Wrk. Mr. Cook has been President of the Rochester Driving Park Association, is one of the Commissioners of Mt. Hope Cemetery, has been on the Elevated Road Com- mission, and in 1880 he became Trustee of the Rochester Savings Bank, which position he still holds. He has been twice appointed Manager of Western Home of Refuge, and is now President of the German American Bank of Rochester, which is one of the soundest financial institutions of that city. In 1885 he was elected Secretaiy of State by a majority of 14,608 votes over Colonel Anson S. Wood. He was unanimously re-nominated in 1887 and elected over Colonel Erederick Grant by a plurality of 17,677, bavins the hishest numlier of votes on the Democratic ticket. In Eebruary, 1887, he was elected President of the Rochester Title Insurance Company and still occupies that position. The same year he was chosen a life member of the N. Y. S. Agricultural Society, and Corresponding Member of Oneida County Historical Society. After declining another nomination as Secretary of State in 1890, he retired from politics and attends to his large and varied business interests. Just before retiring from office Governor Hill, in behalf of himself and other state officers presented him with a costly gold watch with chime attachments. I’erhaps the crowning mark of universal esteem in Mr. Cook’s brilliant political career was manifest at the Democratic State Convention in 1894, when he was solicited to accept the nomination for Governor of New York State, which he declined. In June, 1891, he was appointed one of the managers of the Rochester State Hospital and upon the organization of the board was elected President, to which position he has been elected each year since. k'ebruary 17, 1862, he joined the Masonic Eraternity, \’alley Eodge, No. 109. He is a charter member of Ionic ChajAer, No. 201, and Cyrene Commandery, K. T., and was a charter member of Rochester Lodge of Perfection. He is also a member of Rochester Council, Princes of Jerusalem, and was created Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, 32d degree, in Rochester Sovereign Consistory. During 1874 and 1875 he served as President of Rochester Maennerchor, became a member of Liederkranz in 1892, was made an honorary member of Seeley Citizens’ Corps, January, 1887, and of the Albany Excelsior Corps in 1888. He is a member of the Rochester Historical Society, and in 212 T HE UNDERWRITER. February, 1893, he presented Peissner Post, No. 106, G. A. R., with a handsomely Ijound memorial book, one of the finest works of the kind in existence. In 1853 Mr. Cook married Aliss Catherine Yaky, of Rome, New York, who died in 1864. In 1865 he married Miss Barbara Ague, his present wife. He has but one child, a daughter, married to i\Ir. Augustus Masters MacDonald. Mr. Cook is a director and stockholder in “a number of railroad companies, and is President of the Office Specialty Manufacturing Company. On the 1 5th of January, 1896, on the completion of his twenty years’ service as President of the Rochester German Insurance Company, he gave a banquet to the directors of the five companies over which he presides. The banquet was a most elaborate affair at the Genesee \'alley Club. After various toasts had been responded to, the oldest member of, and in behalf of, the Board of Directors of the Rochester German Insurance Company pre- * sented Mr. Cook with a beautiful gold medal, on which were appropriate inscriptions. FREDERICK GOETZMANN VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ROCIIE.STER GERMAN INSURANCE COMPANY. The Rochester German Insurance Company has, from the start, been favored in its officers with men of sterling integrity and ripe experience. The physiognomies of these men are in themselves the best recommendation the company could have. Some of them stand as thoroughly for honesty and faithfulness in every obligation as do the vignettes of the Presidents on the bank notes of the national currency. Prominent among those who have made a name in insurance circles is F'rederick Goetzmann, Vice-President of the Rochester German Insurance Company. Pie was born at Ritters- hoffen, Alsace, June 18, 1828, and for many years now has been a resident of Rochester, New York. His parents were agriculturists, and up to the time he left home, when fifteen years old, young Goetzmann had received but a common school education. He first went to Nancy, where he remained a year, and then to Paris, where he was employed for two years. In 1847 he came to America, settled in Rochester, and was first in the grocery business under the firm name of Dufner & Goetzmann. Later he carried on the business alone, but left the wholesale grocery business in 1857, and from that time until 1885 in the wholesale liquor business. He has handled bonded whiskies to a large extent, and the firm of E. Goetzmann & Sons has controlled the products of three different distilleries, as follows; Springwater Distillery Company, Bowling Green, Kentucky; I'erncliff Distillery Company, Louisville, Kentucky, and the Goetzmann Distillery Company, Lane Station, Pennsylvania. Mr. Goetzmann is a charter member of the Rochester German Insurance Com- pany, and has been a Director of the same from its organization, serving always on the P'inance Committee, of which he has been Chairman for twenty years, and which jiosition he still holds. He was elected \hce-President of the company in 1892, and, while Mr. Cook is in lyurope each year, Mr. Goetzmann’s duties bring him in close contact with the company, and his good judgment is valued. Ibitil 1884 Mr. Goetzmann had been a Republican, but from that time up to the jiresent he has voted the Democratic ficket. He has never been an active politician, the only office of a political nature that he ever filled being that of School 7 214 T H E U X I) E R W R I T E R. Commissioner for his ward. Brouglit up in the Lutheran Church, he has never been a regular attendant at any other. i\t the present time he is \dce-President of the German American Bank; is a Director and Secretary of the Bartholomay Brewery Company: is a Director of the Title Insurance Company of Rochester, and is interested in electric railroad enterprises. Mr. Goetzmann was married in 1851 to Miss Salome Feiock, and they have had ten children, all now living. The eldest son is a civil engineer in Denver, Colorado, and two of his sons are associated with him in business, while the youngest is in their employ. Mr. Goetzmann is quite a linguist, speaking German, French and English with great fluency. He is of a pleasant, social disposition, and has many warm friends among his business associates. HORACE FRANKLIN ATWOOD SECRE'I'ARY OF THE ROCHESTER (iERMAX INSURANCE COMPANY. One of the most gratifying features of the insurance business in the United States is the integrity and efliciency of those who are called upon to hold office in any of the large companies. Horace F. Atwood is one who reflects great credit upon this business and he now holds the responsible positition of Secretary of the Rochester German Insurance Company. He was born in the grand old State of Massachusetts, in the city of Boston, February 5, 1850, and now resides in Rochester, New York. His father, h'rancis A. Atwood, died in the summer of 1851, and his mother, Mary (Snow) Atwood, died in the spring of 1878. In tracing the genealogy of this family we hrst hear of it in England in 1535 and in Massachusetts in 1621. Mrs. Atwood’s father traced his ancestry back to 1700 and odd in Spain, and her mother’s family has been traced continuously to 1720, in IMassa- chusetts. On both sides the families were prominent in this country. ^’oung Atwood’s youth was passed in the grammar school and at Dwight School, Boston, and at an early age he evinced a strong liking for natural history. When but fourteen years old he put aside his books and began clerking in a store in his native citv. In the vear 1870 he went to Chicago and entered in business at the stock yards, being bookkeejier for a packing house until the spring of 1873, after which he filled the same position with the hrm of Henry Greenebaum & Company, at that time General Agents of the Hamburg Bremen Insurance Company. This hrm was soon changed to Conrad Witkowsky & Company, and later to that of Wdtkowsky & Afield. Mr. Atwood continued with that hrm until January i, 1879, and during that time o-ained a clear insight into the insurance business, and his services were sought by other companies. In the fall of [879, at the recjiiest of the company, he removed his family to Rochester, where he has made his home since. One year later he was elected Assistant Secretary and in May, 1883, was elected Secretary, a position he has since held. Mr. Atwood was one of the earliest members of the First Regiment Illinois State Guards, and Lieutenant of Company F in that regiment. He was Secretar}' of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois; Secretary of the American Congress of Micro- scoj'tists at Indianapolis in 1878; \’ice-Ih'esident of the American Society of Microscopists 1 88s; for two terms was President of the Rochester Academy of Science: a Fellow of T I I E UNDE R W RITE R. 21 () the Royal ^Microscopical Society of London; Member of Yonondio Lodge, A. V. and A. M.: 11 amilton Chapter and Monroe Commandery, and also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. February i, 1896, he was elected President of Rochester Club. Mr. Atwood was President of the 12th Wfard Hose Company; an honorary member of Seeley Citizens’ Corps, and is ex-President of Rochester Board of Fire Underwriters, and is a director of the Title Guarantee Company of Rochester. He has made two visits to Furope, the first in 1892, when accompanied by his wife, and again in 1S95, 'vhen he went alone. Mr. Atwood was brought up in the Presbyterian Church and has made no change in his faith. In politics he is a Republican. September i, 1873, he married Miss Nellie Roberts, daughter of Owen Roberts of Treboth, North Wales. They have three living children, the youngest, Edward Snow Atwood, a student at the University of Rochester, New York. Mr. Atwood has a fine summer residence, “Bryn Hyfryd,” at Forest Lawn, eleven miles from Rochester on the shore of Lake Ontario, and there spends the summer months. Though a “Yankee,” he is a fluent speaker of the German language. THE SPRINGFIELD FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. The Springfield I'ire and Marine Insurance Company received its charter from the state legislature in March, 1849, and in April, 1851, was fully organized by the election of directors and officers. Edmund Ereeman was chosen President and William Conner, Jr., Secretary. The issuing of policies commenced in July, 1851. Both fire and marine risks were written, but after an experience of fifteen years the business in the marine department was discontinued. At first agencies were established at only a few import- ant points outside the state. The net cash premiums received during the first full year (1852) of the company’s operations were $59, 238. The premium receipts have increased from year to year. The year 1861, the end of the first decade, the premium receipts were $174,511. In 1871, the second decade, $497,416. In 1881, $1,033,700. In 1891, $1,756,222. In 1895 the premiums reached $2,020,466, assets, $3, 845, 145. 1 7. The business of the company was profitable up to the time of the great fire in Portland, Maine, July 4, 1866, when the company lost $100,000 leaving the assets only $425,000, which included the capital of $300,000. Directly after this loss the company increased its capital stock to $500,000, and was doing a fairly prosperous business when the great fire in Chicago in October 1871 gave the company losses amounting to $550,- 000. This reduced the company’s assets to so low a figure that it was necessary to assess the stockholders, and 65 j)er cent of the stock was assessed. One year later the Boston fire occurred, when the company lost $260,000. This called for another assess- ment, and this time for 30 per cent, both assessments amounting to 95 per cent of the capital stock. These were trying times indeed, but the company was bold and courageous, and stockholders were ready to put their hands in their }X)ckets to jia}' the losses in full, which they did. d'he company’s greatest prosperity came after this, and is to-day the largest fir(3 insurance company chartered by the state; in fact, has larger assets, and is doing more business than all the other Massachusetts stock fire companies. In 1875 I FIRE AND MARINE. 217 the capital stock of the company was increased from $500,000 to $600,000; in 1876 increased to $750,000: again in 1887 increased to $1,250,000; again in 1889 increased to $1,500,000, and each time from net surplus funds, the total amount capitalized being $1,000,000. d'he total jmemiums received from the organization of the company up to January i, 1896, are $36, 877, 162. 97. The total amount of losses paid is $22,549,644.94, cash dividends $3,254,541.96, stock dividends $1,000,000. January i, 1876, a Western Department of the company was established with head- quarters at Chicago, Illinois, under the management of Mr. Amos J. Harding, one of the leading underwriters of the country, and from his experience and knowledge of field work he was eminently fitted for the position, and is ably assisted in the management by Mr. A. F. Dean, also a thoroughly competent underwriter. The annual premium receipts from the territory alloted to Mr. Harding at the time of his appointment were about $100,000, and for the year 1895, which completed his twentieth year, the prem- iums from his department were $807,851.34. The present officers of the company are A. Willard Damon, President; Sanford J. Hall, Secretary; Wk J. Mackay, Assistant Secretary: Henry M. Gates, Treasurer. Marvin Chapin, the prime mover in the organization of the company, is the only one of the original directors living, nowin his ninetieth year, and is still an active mem- ber in the board. Four Presidents of the compan}’ have died, namely, Edmund P'reeman, Dwight R. Smith, Jarvis N. Dunham and Andrew J. Wd'ight. No secretary of the company has died while in office. The present year completes thirty years service by Sanford J. Hall as secretary. ALONZO WILLARD DAMON PRESIDENT OE SPRINGEIEED FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANV. A service of thirty years in an}’ legitimate vocation is one which at once calls for the comment of the historian. In many instances this means the growth of mighty cities. It means the looking back to the time when grass and tall trees waved where now' stand palaces and magnificent business houses. Alonzo Wdllard Damon, fifth President of the Springfield Fire and IMarine Insurance Company, has had an experience in the insurance business running back over a period of thirty-four years, for he began when a lad as clerk for the old Washington Insurance Company of Boston. There he worked up through various grades of responsibility until he w'as made Secretary of its successor, the Washington Fire and Marine Insurance Company, in i88o. On account of the ill health of his son he w'as compelled to resign in 1887, and then went to Cali- fornia. Returning the following year, he was appointed Special Agent for New England of the Lranklin Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia, w'hich position he resigned to become Special Agent for the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Comjiany. Mr. Damon’s predecessors in the executive chair of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company were Edmund Lreeman, Dwight R. Smith. Jarvis N. Dun- ham and Andrew J. Wdaght. He was connected with this company from the year 1890, when Mr. Dunham, learning of his ability, secured him as Sfiecial Agent for Eastern New England, with headquarters at Boston. On the promotion of Mr. Wright to the presidenc}' in December of that year Mr. Damon w'as made Assistant Secretarv, and upon the decease of Mr. Wright he was called to fill the executive chair, a position 218 THE UNDERWRITER. he is holding at the present time. Although heretofore i\Ir. Damon had the title of Assistant Secretary, this title was a misnomer, for owing to the advanced age of S. J. Hall, Secretary of the company, Mr. Damon had been really the second man in the office after the death of Mr. Dunham. The Damon family trace their ancestry in this country back to the Pilgrims. The hrst member of this family to settle in America was John Damon, who came from County Kent, England, and landed in Plymouth in 162 8. lie came with his uncle, W'illiam Gilson, who was also his guardian, John then being a minor. William Gibson is referred to in the old records as “a man of education and talents,” and held offices of trust and responsibility in the colony, being “an assistant in the government,” or member of the Governor’s Council, from 1633 to 1638, except 1635. In company with others he laid out and settled the town of Scituate in 1633. Three years later he erected the first windmill in Scituate plantation, and probably the first in the colony of Plymouth or in America. By an act of the colonial government he was allowed to take “not over one-twelfth part of the toul of the grindings of come.” His will pio- vided that after his death, and that of his wife, John Damon should be his heir, and as Gilson had grants of land from the crown and consideral)le other property, it left Damon in very comfortable circumstances. He was Captain of the Scituate Company of Colonial Soldiery under Captain Myles Standish, who commanded all the soldiers of the Plymouth colony. The latter’s sons, John and Zachary Damon, served as soldiers in King I’hilip’s war, John being promoted to a lieutenancy. Daniel, of the next gen- eration, was a man of distinction and a rejiresentative. Alonzo Willard Damon was born in South Scituate (now Norwell), Massachusetts, February ii, 1847, Davis Damon. In the schools of Boston he obtained his early education, and in 1862 graduated from Chapman Grammar School, l)eing one of four Franklin Medal scholars. Immediately afterward he entered the office of the Washington Insurance Company of Boston, as above stated. It may thus be seen that Mr. Damon has been in the insurance business since boyhood and is thoroughly conversant with every detail of the work. He is now in middle life, and, armed with his ]iast experience, has made an excellent successor to Mr. Wright. SANFORD JACKSON HAFF SECRETARY OE THE SPRlNCiFIELD FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY OF S P R I N Cz F I E L 1 ) , M A S S A C 1 1 U S E ' r T S . Sanford J. Hall was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, March 31, 1820. He is the lineal descendant in the seventh generation of Edward Hall, who settled first in Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1636 and in 1665 was located at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, when I -54th part of the town was alloted to him. Captain Samuel Hall and Sophia King Hall, father and mother of Sanford ]. flail, lived to an advanced age, the father being ninety-one years and the mother eighty-five years, their children numbering twelve, Sanford ]. being the youngest of four sons. The line of descent of the Hall family is as follow's; Sanford J. son of Samuel, son of Samuel, son of Josiah, son of John, son of Andrew, son of f.dward. Sanford j. Hall, the subject of this sketch, lived at home in the routine of attend- ing school and farm work until the age ot htteen, when he entered the store of Dexter, THE UNDERWRITER. 2 -id I'ay & Co., at Southboro, Massachusetts, where he remained six years, the first four years at a salary of fifty dollars a year, or about one shilling (i6^ cents) a day, money being reckoned in shillings and ]ience in those times, and goods were so marked and sold, ten and sixpence (los. 6d.) being $1.75. A year’s service in those times meant all the days in the year except Sundays, Fast Day and Thanksgiving Day. The only vacation granted was one-half of “Old Election” day, which occurred on the last W ednesday in May in each year. The postoffice was connected with the store and Mr. Hall remembers that the rates of postage on letters were 6 ^, 10, 12 ^, 18^ and 25 cents, according to distance carried. Wdiat a revenue the government would have to-day at such rates. On leaving the store at Southboro Mr. Hall went as salesman into the store of II. 1 >. Claflin & Co. at Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1843 Mr. Clafiin sold his interest and established business in New ^’ork City and the firm name of H. B. Clafiin & Company still exists. Subsequently Mr. Hall engaged in the dry goods business under the firm name ot Hall & Thompson, closing out his interest in 1851, when he accepted the position of bookkeeper in the office of the People’s Fire Insurance Company of Worcester. In 1857, when the Massasoit Insurance Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, was organ- ized, he accepted a call to become its bookkeeper. In 1861 he was elected Secretary of the company and held the office until 1S66, when the company closed business on account of the heavy losses sustained in the Portland, IMaine, fire of July 4, 1866. l\Ir. Hall then accepted the position of Assistant Secretary in the office of the Springfield Fire and IMarine Insurance Company and in 1868 was elected Secretary and holds this office at the present time and completes thirty years’ service with this company. In the meantime four of its presidents have died, namely, Edmund Freeman, Dwight R. Smith, Jarvis N. Dunham and Andrew J. WT'ight, no secretary of the company having died while in office during the nearly fifty years of the company’s existence. This year completes forty-five years of service in the insurance business by Mr. Hall. AMOS JOSEPH HARDING MANAC.ER WESTERN DEI'ART.M ENT OF THE SPRENGFIELI) FIRE AND ^L\R1NE INSURANCE COMI’ANV. Amos Josejfil Harding, the third son of Chauncey C. and Rachel Story Harding, was born on a farm in IMorrow County, Ohio, May 2, 1839. Mr. Harding is of ITiritan stock, his earliest ancestorshaving settled in the Massa- chusetts colonies as early as 1623. Two of his great-grandfathers — Joseph Story and Nathaniel Kittredge — and two great-great-grandfathers — Benjamin Dows and William Low — were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. After completing his education at Ohio Central College, IMr. Harding taught school four months, and, with the slender capital of $140 thus acquired, started out into the world to wrestle with the problems of life, landing at Nebraska Cit}- in 1857. h'or four years he was engaged in various employments but chiefly as a surveyor of government lands, his winters being passed in clerical work and in the study of law. At the outbreak of the war in 1861, Mr. Harding enlisted as a private in the I'irst Nebraska Infantry X’olunteers. .\fter two years’ service in the ranks, he was transferred by [iromotion to the Sixth Missouri Cavalry as First Lieutenant of Company L. He served for two years on the staff of Major General Clinton B. Fisk, as Judge THE UNDERWRITER. 222 Advocate of the Districts of St. Louis and North Missouri, and for six months as solicitor for Freedmen’s Courts in the Districts of Kentucky, Tennessee and North Alabama. In the latter capacity he established and held in the city of Nashville the hrst court ever held in Tennessee wherein the black man could testify against the white. He was twice promoted and brevetted for gallant and meritorious ser\ice during the war, being honorably mustered out of the service on September 26, 1865. In early life Mr. Harding did considerable newspaper work, and was tendered the position of Manager and Editor of the Nebraska Press, at that time owned by the Hon. O. H. Irish, subsecpiently United States Consul at Dresden, and later Chief of P)ureau of Ihinting and Phrgraving. This offer was declined, as Mr. Harding preferred to devote his entire time to the l)usiness of insurance, which was more to his taste. Mr. Harding l>uilt up one of the most successful local agencies for fire and life insurance in the West, and has repeatedly declined the position of Special Agent tendered him bv leading companies. The pressure ujion him, however, was so strong that he was forced to devote a portion of his time to the held work of the companies he represented. In 1868 he accepted a held position with the Home Insurance Company of New York and continued in the service of this company in connection with his local business for about four years. In 1872 he accepted the Western Special Agency of the I'henix of Brooklyn. During the four years he remained with this company its business increased over 400 per cent in his territory, with a loss ratio of not exceeding 40 per cent. These unusuallv favorable results attracted the attention of the officers of the Springheld Fire and IMarine Insurance Company, and he was tendered the management of a M’estern Department of that company, which was accepted by him. The new dej'iartment embraced all States west of Pennsylvania and east of Idaho, including Arkansas and Texas, with headquarters in Chicago. Mr. Harding organized and began business in the Western Department on January i, 1876. At that time the cash capital of the company was $750,000, with total assets of $1,390,000; premium receipts amounting to $605,775. present time its capital is $1,500,000; total assets nearly four million, and net premiums over two million dollars. To this remarkable growth the Western Department, under Mr. Harding’s management, has very largely contributed. As an underwriter he is conservative, aggressive, and a hrm believer in organized cobperation. He was one of the founders of the Union of MTstern Managers organized in 1879, and has been Vice-President and President of that organization. IMr. Harding was married in 1864 to Miss Elizabeth Helen Cowden, the daughter of James H. and Margaret Wallace Cowden of Madison, Indiana. Politicall)", Mr. Harding has always been a Republican, his first vote being cast for xVbraham Lincoln. He took a prominent part in the political affairs of his county and State while residing in Nelu'aska, and was a delegate to nearly ever}' Republican State convention from 1867 to 1875. He was President of the State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Convention in March, 1868. He was delegate to the Republican National Con- vention of that year which nominated General Grant for presidency. He was tendered the nomination of State Senator in 1869, when a nomination was equivalent to an election, but declined the honor as he has never been willing to become a candidate for any office, the only office ever held^ by him l)eing that of Commissioner of Regis- tration in 1866, in which position he served for three years. Of recent years the demands of business have been so exacting that he has taken no active part in politics. Mr. Harding’s religious views aie broad and liberal. He is a member of no FIRE AND MARIN E. 228 church organization, but has been a regular church attendant all his life. During the past twenty years he has attended the Presbyterian Church, and for some years was one of the I8oard of Trustees of the Third Presbyterian Church of Chicago. While attending this church, he has always been a liberal giver to other denominations, and his views are broad enough to include the belief that eternal life may be found through the gateways of all churches, whether Protestant, Catholic or Hebrew, and that untold millions will be found among the redeemed whose names have never been enrolled upon the books of any church. Mr. Harding is a temperance man in practice and profession. In his earlier years he was an earnest worker in the Order of Good Templars. Through his efforts the order was extended and many new lodges established in Nebraska and Missouri. He was a member of the Grand Lodge of the order in both States, also a representative from Nebraska to the Grand Lodge of North America in May, 1867, at Richmond, Indiana, and Baltimore in 1872. He became a member of the A. I', and A. M. in 1866, and a Knight Templar in 1875. Of military societies he is a member of the Illinois Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, also of the Grand Commandery of the order. He is a life member of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, of which he has been Vice-President. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, deriving his membership in the latter from lour direct ancestors who were soldiers in the War for Independence. With his domestic tastes, Mr. Harding cannot be called a club man, though he was one of the founders of the Union League Club of Chicago. Wdiile fond of friends and social life, Mr. Harding is especially devoted to his home, his books and his family, where his friends are always sure of a cordial welcome. He has a large and well-selected library, especially in political and historical works. His collection of the history and literature of the late war is probably as complete as can be found in any private library. Mr. Harding is sparing of speech, though characterized by a geniality of manner, especially among his associates and intimate friends. On proper occasions he can be frank and candid almost to bluntness in the expression of his views. He is a man of remarkable self-reliance, taking without hesitation any responsibility that duty demands, and has at all times the courage of his convictions. Never indifferent to the approbation and good will of his fellows, he has not sought popularity by methods that his own conscience could not approve. He is a man of intense earnestness, faithful and zealous in the discharge of every duty, with conscientious fidelity to the smallest detail. To these characteristics of mind and character must be attributed the large measure of success he has achieved. THE TRADERS FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OE CHICAGO. Among prominent insurance companies of the United States the Traders Eire Insurance Company of Chicago takes a prominent place. The comjiany is a credit to Chicago and the West, and deservedly enjoys a widely extended patronage in all jiarts of the country, and wherever knowm is counted among the solid undeiwvriting insti- 22i T I [ R U N 1 ) E R W R ITER. tutions, of which there are many older and bigger, but none better anywhere. This company was organized in 1865, but reinsured its risks two years later, retaining, however, its charter. In May, 1872, it was reorganized, with a paid-up capital of $500,000, and with H. P. Hutchinson, the noted Board of Trade operator, as President, and with William E. Kollo, well known in insurance circles, as Secretary. Wh en i\Ir. Hutchinson retired he was succeeded by Sidney A. Kent, while in 1874 Robert J. Smith succeeded Mr. Kollo as Secretary. Since 1872 the company has paid in dividends to stockholders $1,122,500, or an average for the whole period of a tritie over two and one-half per cent, quarterly, ten per cent, per annum, which is “good business,” and is, of course, included in the above total expenditures. P'rom the semi-annual statement of the company for the month ending July i, 1896, it is shown that the assets now stand at $1,698,242, and the sui4)lus, as regards policy- holders, at 51,154,387, the net surplus being $634,387. The Traders has always been conservative in risk taking and been managed with that clear-headed underwriting skill which guarantees i)rohtable results, as shown l)y its dividend-paying ability. Since organization the company has paid as indemnity for fire loss the large sum of $6,638, 562, and has managed to increase its assets until they have reached almost one and three-cjuarters millions of dollars, with a net surplus ecjual to its net premium income. Such a result is not accidental, but tjie outcome of genuine enterprise, joined to underwriting ability of a high order, and a sound system of financiering, for the investments of the Traders have been made with care and looked after with fidelity. ROBERT JORDAN SMITH SFXRK'IARV OF 'I'llE TRADERS INSURANCE COMPANY OF CHICAGO. Robert J. Smith, who for twenty-two years has been connected with the Traders Insurance Company of Chicago, is generally recognized as one of the most careful and well informed insurance secretaries in the country, and it is a position that nowadays in so large a concern retiuires almost as much diplomacy as a Secretary of State. He was l)orn in St. Clair County, Illinois, July 12, 1837, and on a farm, there learning habits of industry and enterprise that have remained with him through life. His father, Nathaniel Smith, was born in Maine, in 1818, and his mother, Marinda (Carr) Smith, was born in St. Clair County. Illinois. In addition to a common school education Robert J. Smith attended private school in Belleville, Illinois, and one year at Shurtlifi College, in hopper Alton, Illinois. Like other enterprising young men, Mr. Smith first taught school, but after one term entered a country store as clerk, where he remained some time. His next venture was in the insurance line and he became a local agent for the iHtna Insurance Company of Con- necticut. In the year 1865 he settled in Springfield, Illinois, as one of the State Agents of that company, and conducted business under the firm name of Smith & Gadsden. In the year 1868 he came to Chicago as General Western Agent for the Putnam Insurance Company of Connecticut, and in 1874 (July) he was elected Secretar}- of the 'Traders Insurance Company, a jiosition he has filled most efficiently ever since. He was first with the Hutna, then the Putnam, afterward the North British of England, the N. (). Insurance Association and finally the Traders. Erom i860 to 1863 Mr. Smith was Justice of the Peace, and irom 1891 to 1892 was President of Cook County Com- 226 THE UNDERWRITER. missioners (or county board). He has also been active in political circles as a good Democrat, and was Chairman of Cook County Democratic Central Committee about 1890. During 1892 and ’93 he was President of the Irocjuois Club. I'rom 1879 to 1880 he was President of the International Marine Underwriters and is now President of The Union, an association of hre underwriters, officers and managers of companies having jurisdiction over the Middle States from West \hrginia to the Rocky Mountains and from the Great Lakes to Alabama and Texas. He has always taken an active part in the various underwriters’ organizations, and is universally recog- nized as a man of decided opinions but withal a gentleman of hne social qualities. Mr. Smith was reared a Baptist but since the year 1868 he has not been connected with any church. As before stated, he is a Democrat in politics, but takes no stock in free silver or Populistic doctrines. In the month of November, 1859, he married IMiss Susan O. Barker, a native of Monroe County, Illinois. THE UNION INSURANCE COMPANY OE PHIEADEEPHIA. The Union Insurance Company of Philadelphia, organized in that city in July, 1803, IS almost as old as the century. The “.City Tavern” was the scene of its meeting in that year and out of this meeting grew a new organization. It early had the good fortune to attract to its directory men conspicuous for their strength of character and good judgment, among whom was Stephen Girard. 'Phis company was not intended as a pretender, and has never been such. Had it ever once deviated from the good, old-fashioned, honest methods it would never have attained a position so honorable and honored. Review its history for the entire ninety-four years and nothing will be found antagonistic to the rehned moral sense of its illustrious progenitors. The capital of this old and substantial organization is S200,ooo; its assets $628,- 012, and its officers are Charles S. Hollinshead, President; PTlgar R. Dannels, Secretary; and M. Jos. Nowlan, Assistant Secretary. It has received in premiums since its organ- ization $23,679,778, and has paid losses amounting to $16,907,406. It had at risk December 31, 1895, $3^.946 525. During the year 1895, increase in assets was $89,169.56; increase in reserve, $24,037.59; increase in net surplus, $61,231.62. This old company is devoting itself exclusively to fire insurance at present, and the company has now entered upon another epoch in its history. CHAREES STEREING HOEEINSHEAD PRESIDENT OE THE UNION INSURANCP: COMPANY OE PHILADELPHIA. C. S. Hollinshead, President of the Union Insurance Company of Philadelphia, is a man born to a place of responsibility; one who is in the habit of following his con- victions, and who can say no when occasion requires. The successful president of a big insurance company is born, not made. If the material is not in the man, then no amount of training will fit him for the position, hixecutive ability cannot be acquired, and that is the sort of aliility demanded of the man rvho overlooks the operations of a vast army of agents, who must watch expenses and inspect investments; and who at the same time must so handle his company that there will be as little friction as pos- sible with underwriting interests in general. 228 THE UNDERWRITER. Mr. Hollinshead is not a veteran in years, though old in the experience that goes to make an underwriter. His birth occurred in New Jersey, January lo, 1850, and he is a son of the late Joseph H. and Margaret \V. Hollinshead. The father was Secretary of the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania for more than a quarter of a century. Charles S. Hollinshead received his scholastic training in the common schools and later turned his attention to the law of fire insurance. Since then his life has been devoted almost entirely to fire underwriting with a casual knowledge of marine under- writing. After leaving school Mr. Hollinshead entered the counting room of a wholesale diy goods house and, for a time, was engaged in the custom house brokerage, but took up the fire and marine insurance business as an occupation; first, as a clerk in the office of the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania; second, with the general fire insurance agency firm of Duy & Hollinshead, and third, in October, 1872, accepted the office of Assistant Secretary of the Union Insurance Comj'iany of Philadeljdfia, in full charge of its fire insurance department. He was made its Fire Manager (change of title only) in January of 1885, and accepted the presidency January 10, 1889 (his 39th birthday), to reorganize the company’s business as a fire insurance office exclusively. I le established the agency plant of the Union Insurance Company, which now extends from iMaine to California; is a member of most of the underwriting bodies; has been a memlrer of the Executive Committee of the Philadelj^hia Fire Underwriters’ Association, and is now a member of the Executive Committee of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, as well as a member of the Standing Committee on Adjustments of the National Board of F'ire Underwriters. The history of the Union Insurance Company of Philadelphia is unique. It has not lived by chance and has survived the ravages of fires and floods for nearly a century, and the history of no other company will furnish such an interesting record of the ups and downs of the business. Mr. Hollinshead has been connected with this company for about twenty-five years. The embarrassing troubles experienced by the company during the eighties are well remembered. A long period of disastrous results in the marine department of its business, coupled with inefficient executive management, nearly sufficed to crush the life out of the old time-honored organization. It was at this critical period that Mr. Hollinshead was called to the helm and at once a new order of things was established. The marine business was entirely abolished, and its large liability discharged with credit to the corporation, the fire branch was strengthened, fresh energy was put into every department, and forthwith the company commenced to make money, and has resumed its place among the dividend payers. Mr. Hollinshead was a two term member of the City Council and is active in municipal affairs of the borough in which he resides. For more than twenty years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity. He has l)een quite an extensive traveler and has been over all parts of the United States and Plurope. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and in politics a Republican, l)elieving in protection and sound money. Mr. Hollinshead is married and has three children, a son and two daughters, ages respectively ten, eight and six. TllK UNITED FIREMEN’S INSURANCE COMPANY. The United Firemen’s Insurance Company of Philadelphia was incorporated April 2, i860, and bej^an business in April, i86i. Under its charter, until amended by the Legislature, only hremen actively connected with the volunteer fire department could lie stockholders. Its officers in 1861 and for several years thereafter were some of the best known active volunteer firemen in Philadelphia, Conrad B. Andress, of the Northern Liberty Hose Company, being President, and W. II. P'agan, of the Moyamensing Hose Company, Secretary. Patrick H. Fearon, the first chief of the new paid fire depart- ment, took out the first jierpetual policy in this company. fi'or nearly fifteen years the company did a purely local business, when it entered the agency field by the establishment of a number of general agencies in different parts of the Union; it was not, however, successful in this venture and in 1881 there was a complete reorganization of the company. Mr. Joseph L. Caven, an attorne}^ at law and one of the best known citizens of Philadelphia, was elected President, with an entire change in the Board of Directors, the new board rejiresenting presidents and officers of banks and other financial institutions, all of the gentlemen being well known as active and influential citizens. Col. Robert B. Beath was selected as Secretary, and the first work of the new management was to close out the system of general agencies and then start out on conservative plans in the princijial cities and towns of the East and Central Western States, and the growth of the company from that time on has been sure and progressive, doubling its jiremiums since 1886 and adding over $500,000 to the gross assets. Dividends have been paid from 1888 of 6, 7 and 8 per cent, until they have now reached a 10 per cent, basis. In i8pi President Caven was elected President of the Real Estate Title Insurance and Trust Company, of which he had been a Director from its organization, and which company was the first organized to do title insurance in this country, a line in which Mr. Caven was an acknowledged expert. Col. Beath was elected President to fill the vacancy and the former Assistant Secretary, Mr. Dennis J. Sweeny, was elected Secretary. The full list of officers and directors is as follows: Robert B. Beath, President; Joseph L. Caven, \’ice-President (President Real Estate Title Insurance and Trust Company); Dennis J. Sweeny, Secretary. Directors; Henry I^umm, ex-Cit}’ Treasurer; Wm. M. Singeiiy, Ih'esident Chestnut Street National Bank, proprietor Philadelphia Record; Alfred Moore, attorney at law; Chas. M. Lukens, Lukens & Montgomery, real estate; Holstein De Haven, conveyancer; Henry B. Tener, Secretary and Treasurer of the Mortgage Trust Company of Pennsylvania: George B. Bonnell, trustee; Whlliam Wood, manufacturer: Jacob E. Ridgway, President Quaker City National Bank. COLONEL ROBERT B. BEATH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED FIREMEN’s INSURANCE COMPANY OF PIIIEADEEPIIIA. Robert lU Beath was born in that city January 26, 1839. After attending the public schools he served as an indentured apprentice as a machine-blacksmith, and at the outbreak of the rebellion enlisted as a private in the Union army and served for two years through the various grades of a non-commissioned officer and the remainder of four and a half years’ service as Second Lieutenant and Captain, being at the close of the war commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. 22U 280 T I I E U N D E R W R I T E R. He was badly wounded at Chapin’s Farm, Virginia, September 29, 1864, resulting in the amputation of a foot. After the war he served for several years as bookkeeper for a large colliery in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and while so serving bought out an insurance agency representing a number of leading companies. He was during this time elected Surveyor- General of Pennsylvania, and after his term of service returned to the insurance business as an agent and broker in Philadelphia. In 1881 he was elected Secretary of the United Firemen’s Insurance Company, and on the retirement of the President, Jos. L. Caven, Escp, who was elected President of the Real Estate Title Insurance and Trust Company, Col. Death was promoted to the vacancy. He has always taken an active interest in the Grand Army of the Republic, having served in a number of important subordinate positions, as well as Commander of the Department of Pennsylvania and Commander-in-Chief of the organization. His com- pendium of the laws and rulings of the order, the Grand Army Blue Book, is the recognized authority on questions of law and practice. He has been for ten years \hce-President of the Board of Trustees for the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ 1 lome. He has taken an active part in matters affecting fire insurance interests, and has for a number of years served as Secretary of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. He was Chairman of the Executive Comniittee of the Philadelphia Board of Fire Underwriters for two years after the reorganization of that association on a compan^- basis, and on his retirement, declining a re-election for a third term, his services were appropriately recognized in the presentation of a magnificent clock, accompanied by very general expression of the regards of his colleagues. WESTCHESTER FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. The business man is a prudent man, that is, if he is a successful one. He realizes that it demands persistent care to guard against the perils that assail on every hand. He can not afford to fight fire alone; for that is an enemy that fights in the dark — a guerrilla, an Indian — as it were, that gives no chance for throwing up defenses and that shows no mercy. The insurance company steps forward and interposes a sure arm. d'hat arm alone is his protection and he sensibly accepts its shelter. x-\s a sensible man he makes sure that the' arm is a strong one; a mistake there might be fatal. Among insurance companies the Westchester Fire Insurance Company of New York is an old and substantial one, one that has been familiar to the public for more than half a century. It was incorporated in New York in 1837, as a mutual company, and it did a local business as such for many' years. In january, 1870, it was changed to a joint stock company, with a capital of $200,000, paid up. Its home office was at New R’ochelle, New York, with George j. Penfield as President and George R. Crawford as Secretary. Upon its reorganization the principal office was moved into New York City, and entering the field as an agency company, it has ever since been a jn'ornincnt factor in the fire underwriting of the country. In 1879 Secretary Crawford was elected President, Mr. Penfield retiring, and John O. Underhill became Secretary. The Westchester has long been one of the solid T H E U N D E R W RITE R. 2:T,> companies, earning good dividends for the stockholders and inspiring the public with confidence by fair dealing and prompt payment of losses. It has increased its assets from $540,086 in 1871 to $2,072,072 in 1896, and its net surplus from $134,882 to $567,540, the surjdus to policyholders being in the latter year $867, 540. The company has never sought for large lines nor encouraged the taking of doubtful risks, but has wisely been content to write a moderate amount of business each year, gradually increasing its field as its resources have grown. GEORGE R. CRAWEORD I'RESIDEXT AM) TREASURER OE WT^STCIIESTER FIRE IXSURAA'CE COMPAW. There are few men in insurance circles who show as much htness for their avocation, in that they are wide-awake, experienced, reliable and energetic, as George R. Crawford, President and Treasurer of the Westchester Eire Insurance Company, and there are none who have a more thorough knowledge of underwriting than he. Mr. Crawford is a native of the Empire State, born at White Plains, Westchester County, June 21, 1841, and is now in the luime of life. Eor some time now he has been a resident of Mount Vernon, New "Wrk. Ilis father, Elisha Crawlord, was born at White Plains, New York, December 6, 1800, and his grandfather, Lieut. Samuel Crawford, fought bravely for independence and was killed during the war, in 1778. The mother, wdiose maiden name was Judith Tompkins, was a near relative of Daniel D. Tompkins. During his youth Mr. Crawford’s educational advantages were unusually good, and in addition to a good, practical public school training he attended the White Plains Military Academy, b'or two years after leaving school he was engaged in various undertakings, but with the exception of these two years his whole life has been spent in the insurance business. He hrst commenced as a clerk in the insurance agency in 1857, l)ut it was not long until he was advanced to higher positions, until in 1865 he was elected Secretary of the Westchester, and President of that institution in 1879. Wherever he has made his home, Mr. Crawford’s genial and social disposition has won him many friends. In the arduous duties of his responsible position, i\Ir. Crawford does not throw off his obligations as a citizen, but is interested in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of the community. I'rom the year 1870 to 1876 he wTis Trustee of ^he then village; in 1875 Chief Engineer of iMount \’ernon Eire Department; from 1876 to 1878 he wms President of the village, and from 1885 to 1887 he wms School Trustee of Mount Wrnon Board of Education. Mr. Crawford has shown his appreciation of secret organizations by becoming a Mason, and is an active member'of his lodge. He has jiassed through all the Scottish and York rites. He has traveled cpiite extensively in the United States and Canada. In religion he is a Methodist Episcopal, and in politics an unswerving Democrat. On the 24th of May, 1864, he married Miss Lucretia Greig. JOHN OldNCY UNDERHILL \ICE-l’RESII)E\r AND SECRETARV OE THE WESTCHESTER FIRE INSURANCE COMI’ANV. The dual iiosition occujiied b}' Mr. John O. Underhill, \ ice-President and Sec- retary of the Westchester Eire Insurance Company is one demanding unusual ability. r THE UNDERWRITE R. 2:^1 Ilis thorough knowledge of the business and his energy and recognized ability have convinced all that he is the right man in the right place. He was born in New York, Westchester County, at New Rochelle, February 19, nSgS, and is now a resident of that place. Mis father, Cieorge Washington La I'ayette Underhill, was born in 1824, and was named by the Marciuis de La Fayette, who put up for a night at a tavern at iMama- roneck, Westchester County, New York, the same being kept by the grandfather of our subject. This was during the journey of the Marquis from New York to Boston. i\Ir. Underhill’s mother was Julia Ann Baker. In tracing back the ancestry of the Underhill family in America we find that the first member, Capt. John Underhill, came to this country from England in 1630 and fought in the Indian \vars in New England and New York. John O. Underhill is the eighth descendant in direct line. Mr. Underhill was educated in the public and private schools and college of New "i’ork City, and early in life Irranched out to make his own way in life as clerk in a country store. Later he became interested in the insurance business, and in 1869 became clerk in the office (d the Westchester Fire Insurance Company. In 1879 he was advanced to the position of Secretary and in 1892 became \hce-President and Secretary. From the year 1878 to 1882 Mr. Underhill was President of village of New Rochelle; during 1877, 1889, 1890 and 1891, he was Trustee of the village; from 1888 up to the present time he has been Commissioner of Sewers of the place, and from [8S5 to 1888 he was School Trustee of the village of New Rochelle. In his social relations Mr. Underhill is a Mason, having joined that society in 1872. He has spent some time in travel and has been over the United States, Cuba and Europe. In politics he is a Democrat. All his lile he has been a member of the Methodist Church. In the year 1872 he married Miss Minnie B. Price, of Sag Harbor. They have one child, a daughter. Secretary Underhill has been with the Westchester for mam- years, and has wdtnessed the growth of the institution with which he has been so closely connected, from its small beginnings. He is a genial, pleasanc gentleman as well as a capable, all-round fire insurance official of excellent judgment. MORELL O. BROWN ('.KNERAL AGENT WESTCHESTER EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OE NEW YORK. For its prudent underwriting and the favorable results to the company’s resources much credit is due to Mr. Morell O. Brown, General Agent of Westchester Fire Insurance Company. For more than twenty-four years he has continuously been its WTstern Manager, and for several years one of its influential Directors. Under his able management the business in the West has been uniformly profitable, and has been an important factor in the growth and a promoter of the popularity of the “old W’estchester. ” Mr. Brown is a native of New \'ork, born in Clarence July 10, 1847. When he was but a boy his jiarents moved to Springfield, Ohio, where his earh' education was conqdeted, and in 1861 they made their way to the Hoosier State and located at Terre Haute. In 18G4, or as soon as old enough, young Brown enlisted in the army, 133d Indiana Regiment, and served with credit until cessation of hostilities. THE UNDERWRITER. 2‘M\ Keturning from the war, he found employment in the Postoffice Department in the railway postal work, and in i868' began his career in the insurance business, first as solicitor and clerk in a local agency at Terre Haute, Indiana. One year later he removed to Indianapolis, became bookkeeper in a local agency, and a partner the following year. Later he was employed as Special i\gent for different companies, and on the 22cl of October, 1871, just after the great Chicago hre, he entered the service of the Westchester Fire Insurance Company of New ^'ork, with which company he has continued up to the present as General Agent for the Western Department. He is also a Director of the company. Mr. Drown is not only an accomplished underwriter, but is a genial gentleman of line social cjualities and of acknowledged character and influence in the community. He is one of the forceful men of the West, and is a popular member of the Union League and Illinois Clubs. MARSHALL SYLVANUS DRIGGS PRESIDENT OE I’lIE WILLIAMSBURG CITY EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. It is a very nice thing, as the world looks at it, to be the president of an insurance company. However, it is a very responsible position and the successful president is born, not made. Executive ability cannot be actpiired, and that is the sort of ability retiuired of the individual who oversees the operations of hundreds of agents, watches expenses and investments, and who carries on the business without friction. Marshall S. Driggs, President of the Williamsburg City Fire Insurance Company, is a man who would convince the most particular critic that he has made no mistake in his chosen calling, and that he is the right man for the prominent position he now occupies. Possessed of unusual executive ability, and with his experience and enter- prise, Mr. Driggs is one of the most successful underwriters of his day. He was born in New York City, January 9, 1834, but for the past forty-eight years has resided in the city of Brooklyn. He is the son of Edmund and Delia (Marshall) Driggs and the grandson of Elliott Driggs. The father was a native of Kinderhook, New York, born February 25, 1809, and died in Brooklyn, New York, July 31, 1889, in his eighty-first year. During his long and exceedingly active life he held many positions of honor and trust. He organized the Williamsburg City Fire Insurance Company, and by his ability and devotion to business raised the company from a very modest beginning to a high position in the insurance fraternity. His wife was born in Stamford, Connecticut, July, 1807, and was the daughter of Sylvanus iMarshall and Mary Smith Marshall. iMr. Marshall was the son of Sylvanus Marshall and Mrs. Marshall the daughter of Isaac Smith, both of whom were in the Continental Army, the first as captain and the latter as surgeon, and both were upon the pension roll of the ITnited States. Mr. Driggs had particularly good educational advantages during his youth, first attending the high school of George Payn Ouackenbos, the distinguished author and educator, and later the Reading Institute, Connecticut, where he prepared himself for business and did not take a classical course of studies. His first employment after leaving school was to take a position as policy clerk in the Williamburg City Fire Insurance Company (of which he is now President), and he had the distinction of writing policy number i in this corporation. His connection 288 'r H E U N D E R W R I T E R. with the company was retained for four years, during which time he served as Assist- ant Secretary. He then resigned to enter into the warehouse business, which for thirty-two years he pursued in Brooklyn. After the death of his father, however, he was called to take his place as the executive officer of this company. In addition to this Mr. Driggs is a director of the First National P>ank of Brooklyn and of the Dry Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad Company of this city. The Williamsburg City Fire Insurance Company was organized March 23, 1853, with a capital of $150,000. Ih'esident, Edmund Driggs, and Secretary, John D. Burt- nett. In 1867 the capital was increased to $250,000. Since its organization it has paid in losses $7,769,662, and its dividends $1,452,500. The company at the present time has a net surjdus of $708,970. 38, and the book value of the stock is $383.58. Mr. Driggs was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a member of the same until a change in his faith in regard to the doctrines of baptism and eschatology obliged him to withdraw from that society. In politics he is a Demo- crat by natural descent for three generations, and an independent study of the subject has but strengthened his convictions. He was married December 24, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth Sanford, daughter of Sipiire Aaron Sanford, of Reading, Connecticut, a family well known throughout New England, and a sister of Henry Sanford, President of Adams Express Company. In less than a year she died and Mr. Driggs has not since married. GEORGE S. MERRIEE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER ()F MASSACHUSETTS. The lives of our prominent men should be written for the sake of the lessons, that men everywhere may place themselves in contact with facts and affairs, and build themselves up and into a life of excellence, not in any sphere but in their own rightful place, where they may keep and augment their individuality. To record in some respects the details of such a life is purposed in the following : George S. Merrill, one of the leading insurance commissioners in the United States, now Insurance Commis- sioner of Massachusetts, and the senior in service in the United States, is a native of the Bay State, born in the year 1837 in the town of Methuen, from which the larger portion of the territory of the city of Lawrence was taken. In Methuen and Lawrence he received the principal jrart of his education. I^etween the years 1853 and 1856 he served an apprenticeship in the office of the “Lawrence Courier, ’’the earliest newspaper published in the then young town. In the latter year he became editor of the “Lawrence American,” and from i860 until July, 1892, when he sold the pajier, wms sole proprietor and editor of that journal. Aside from his duties in that connection he was interested in all that pertained to the welfare of the communitv, and for five vears was a memlier and two \ears President of the Common Council of Lawrence. In 1861 he was appointed Postmaster by President Lincoln and filled that position for twenty-five years. In 1862 Mr. Merrill assisted in raising a company for the Union service, of which he became Lieutenant and afterward Captain. This company was attached to the h'ourth Regiment, Massachusetts \’olunteers, and was with General Banks in Louisiana, including the siege and capture of Ikirt Hudson. In order to enter the service Mr. iMerrill 240 THE UNDERWRITER. tendered his resignation as Postmaster, but this was declined, and leave of absence granted by the postofhce department. From i rooklyn Eagle said the following regarding his reappointment: “That James V. Pierce after three years occupancy of his office should be reap- pointed at the unanimous desire of all the people argues a record in it that is excellent. Governor P'lower did wisely to renominate Mr. Pierce. The act indicates that the executive in that instance took no counsel of those who have not always advised him well. The Senate did wisely at once and unanimously to confirm the nomination. The politics of the confirmation was larger than inaction on the nomination would have been. Republicanism now divides with Democracy the credit of preserving the insur- ance department in strong, experienced and trusted hands.” Mr. Pierce is a member of the Long Island Historical Society, of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, of the Brooklyn Club and Manhattan Club of New York and the P'ort Orange Club, Albany, also of the Bar Association of the State of New \'ork. Mr. Pierce married Anna M. Reddington, of Waddington, New York, in 1856, and has four children living. His eldest daughter married William H. Read, a grand- son of Governor Cabell of X'irginia. His second daughter married Walter Curtis, a grandson of the Hon. Benjamin R. Curtis, formerly United States Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. His son James ¥. Pierce, Jr., is a member of the junior class at ^'ale College, and one unmarried daughter, Miss Jessie P'rances Pierce. BIOGRAPHICAL FOREIGN COMPANIES THE COMMI^RCIAL UNION ASSURANCE COMPANY OE EONDON. I'he Commercial Union of Eondon was orj^anizcd in the fall of i86i, as the result of events growing out of the Tooley street fire in Eondon in June of that year, which fire entailed a loss to the insurance companies of about $4,000,000, and brought about a marked increase in rates. The company began business in October of the same year, and thus has a record of more than a (juarter of a century to which it is able to point with gratihcation and pride. d'he Commercial Union and the Mercantile (afterward by amalgamation the North British and Mercantile) — the two new companies - started out as non-tarifi offices at rates satisfactory to the public and had plenty of business from the start. The Com- mercial Union’s affairs were so well managed that during the hrst seven years it was able to pay to its shareholders an average of seven and a half }^er cent in dividends. Its funds handsomely increased, its Imsiness was extended, and soon became and has since been prohtable enough to yield a yearly dividend of from twelve to fifteen per cent and upward on the capital employed. The company has transacted a fire, marine and life business. Its first year’s premiums on its fire business were $282,480. Six years later they wm:e $585,860. During the next four years the fire premiums had increased to $1,617,125. The funds at this time were $8,557,947, and the net surplus $2,293, 106. company entered the Idiited States, and since then it has extended its operations to almost every other country. The Commercial Phiion closed the year 1895 'vith United States assets $3,506,031 and a ])remium income of $2,708,283. The last Head Office report gives the total cash assets as $20,653,543, and the fire and marine premiums for 1895 s6, 717,426. 240 CHARLES SEWALL UNITED STATES MANAGER FOR THE COMMERCIAL UNION ASSURANCE COMPANY OF LONDON. Charles Sewell was born in 1848 at lE'ooklyn, New York. In 1868 he entered the New York office of the Liverpool and London and Globe as a clerk. In 1874 he was appointed Assistant Secretary, and in 1877 Assistant Manager of that company. In 1878 he resigned to liecome Assistant Manager of the United States branch of the Commercial Union. In November, 1885, he succeeded to the office of Manager. Mr. Sewall is also Ih'esident of the Commercial Union Eire Insurance Company of New York. AEEXANDER H. WRAY ASSISTANT UNITED STATES MANAGER OE THE COMMERCIAL UNION ASSURANCE • COMPANY OF LONDON. A. II. Wray was born in New York City in November, 1844. In Eebruary, 1869, he entered the office of the Star Eire Insurance Company as application clerk. He was appointed Secretary of the Northern of Watertown in 1874, and on the reinsuring of that company in 1881 entered the field as an independent adjuster. Erorn 1883 he was General Agent of the Commercial Union for New England, until, on May i, 1889, he was appointed Assistant Manager. Mr. Wray is also Vice-President and Secretary of the Commercial Union Fire Insurance Company, of New York. •248 IIENKY CLAY EDDY RKSIDKNT SECRETARY OE THE C( ) *\EM ERC I AT UNIon's WESTERN DEPARTMENT. Preeminence is a goal most men strive to attain. No matter in what field, the ambition of the true man will juish him to such endeavor that his success will stand out with glaring distinctness and his position become a most enviable one. To reach a high mark of success in almost any calling is, in these days of rush and activity, no easy matter, and when a man does reach a coveted position, it is not through good luck or influence, but through his own merit, as a usual thing. At least such it has been with Henry Clay Eddy, Resident Secretary of the Commercial Union’s Western Department. Mr. Eddy is a native of Rhode Island, born at Providence, May 9, icS4erintendent of Agencies of the New York l)ranch. In 1877 he was appointed Assistant Manager at New York branch. In 1878 he was appointed Resident Secretary at Chicago and established that l)ranch for the company. In [884 he was appointed Manager and Underwriter of the Pacific Coast branch at San Francisco. Mr. Mullins is a director of the Pioneer Kindergarten Society of San Francisco; a director of the Seaman's Institute of San Francisco; a member of the Board of Relief of the British Benevolent Society of California, and a member of the following clubs; Pacific Union Club of San Francisco, Country Club of California, San Francisco Golf Club, and Grosvenor Club of Fondon. Mr. iMullins’ travels have extended over the United States, Europe, Canada and British Columbia generally, also Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. In religion he has always been an Episcopalian, and in politics ^mld standard, limited tariff. In the year 1873 he married Miss Adelaide Davenport, a descendant of Ormus de Dauneporte, born in the County of Chester. England, in 1086. The founder of the family in America was the Rev. John Davenport, B. D., Vicar of St. Stephen’s, Cole- man Street, Fondon. He had the misfortune to secure the enmity of Bishop Baud, who, on his elevation as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, made it necessary for the Rev. john Davenport to embark for Holland to secure his safety. He had taken an early interest in the iMassachusetts Colony and contributed fifty pounds toward the procurement of its charter. He was jmesent at the company's meeting in Fondon, M arch 23. 1629. ( )n the 26th of June, ib 3 /’ arrived at Boston, ^Massachusetts, ‘‘m the good ship Hector.” It was thought that Mr. Davenport’s residence in Massachu- setts might draw upon that colony the wrath of Archbishop Baud, who had said, “i\fy arm shall reach him there;” and so in the fall of 1637 he and others made a journey to Connecticut, to exjffore the country. Eater he settled at Ouinnipiac (now' New' Haven), and w'ith a few' others made jireparation for estalilishing a settlement in the w’ilderness the following spring. He thus became the founder of New Haven. His caj^abilities and strength of character may lie learned from the fact that he remained in charge of his church all through the dreadful plague which visited Fondon in 1625. He was officially thanked for this £{reat service. Physically Mr. Mullins is well proportioned, being six feet tall and weighing one hundred and ninety five {lounds. He is aggressive for principle and the interests placed under his charge, but is abvays mindful of the rights of others, carrying out his family motto, “Vivere sat ^•incere” — “to con(}uer is to live enough.” He is a lover of the fine arts, fond of outdoor exercise and sports, and spends much of his leisure time on horseback or with his dogs, guns and fishing rod. THE IMPERIAL ENSURANCE COMPANY, LIMITED, OF LONDON. The Imperial Jnsurance Company, Limited, of London, England, is one of those old and stanch foreign corporations which have become an absolute necessity for the protection of losses against hre in this country. The Imperial is over ninety years old, having been instituted in 1803. It is, with a single exception, the largest purely fire insurance company in Great Britain; and, without any exception, it has the largest net surplus of any English insurance company doing a fire business. At home it is esteemed one of the strongest and most successful of the insurance corporations. In this country since its establishment in i86-<, when it opened its office in New York, it has made a record which places the United States branch on an equal footing with the best American companies. In this country its gross assets are $1,847,271, which includes the reserve of $905,078 for unearned premiums, $141,931 for unsettled losses, and $37,458 for all other claims, leaving a net surplus in the United States of $762,804. It has paid the colossal sum of $65,000,000 for losses. The General Manager of the company is Edward Cozens-Smith, who has been at the head of the company’s afiairs for over twenty years. The Managers of the Metropolitan District are J. J. Courtney and John R. McCay, a firm composed of two experienced and energetic underwriters. Mr. Courtney has been connected with the Imperial for twenty-nine years, eighteen of which were spent in the company’s head offices in London. Mr. McCay has I)een the representative of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford for twenty years. Besides having the management of the Metropolitan District of the Imperial they are also managers of the New England and Middle States Department of this compan}’. They also have the management for the Metropolitan District of the old Phoenix of 1 lartford, one of the stanchest of the American insurance companies, and also of the Lion Insurance Company of England, another of the great English fire corporations. Their offices are in the Imperial Building, at 31 and 33 Pine Street, a six-story, marble front office building, owned by the Imperial Insurance Company, and well situated in what is regarded now as the insurance district. The Trustees of the Imperial in the United .States are Henry W. Cannon, President of the Chase National Bank; W. x\. Read, of the banking house of \Trmilye & Co. ; and R. L. Edwards, President of the Bank of the State of New York. The Imperial has, besides those mentioned above, the following departments, viz. : Boston, John C. Paige, Manager; Chicago, Daniel C. Osmun, Manager; Atlanta, J. T. Dargan, Manager; San P'rancisco, \V. J. Landers, Manager, and representatives in every nook and corner of the United States, and throughout the civilized world. j. J. COURTNEY (;knkrai. .\ttornkv for the united states of the imrerial insurance companv, OF LONDON, To men who for the last thirty years have watched the grand advance of the insurance business, the lesson comes home to them that no country in the world ofters such wide advantages in this respect as the United States. Another notable fact, with, indeed, very few exceptions, is that the vast number of successful men who do business 258 THE UNDERWRITER. here are foreigners b}' nativity. This thought is brought about by the personality of J. J. Courtney, General Attorney for the United States of the Imperial Insurance Company of London, and who is also Resident Manager of its Eastern and Metro- politan departments. lie was born in the city of London, England, in the year 1848, and there received a good education. When but seventeen }’ears old he became a clerk in the head office of the Imperial in London, where he was actively engaged for eighteen years, and where his hdelity and reliability in all that pertained to the lousiness were soon recognized. In 1883 Mr. Courtney was appointed Secretary of the United States branch at New h'ork, and arrived in Boston, en route tor New York, in September of that year. That office he retained and discharged its duties most faithfully until he became joint Manager of the Metropolitan Department in 1891. In 1894 he became the General Attorney of- the company and its joint Eastern Branch Manager and its Financial Agent for the United States. Although an Englishman by birth, Mr. Courtney is perhaps one of the most American Englishmen to be found in this country. He became a citizen five years ago, and his eldest son is a member of the Twenty-third Regiment of the N. G. S., New York, in Brooklyn. Mr. Courtney comes of a good old Yorkshire family, and it is singular that he did not become a minister, inasmuch as he had no less than five uncles and brothers in that profession, including the Lord Bishop of Nova Scotia, who is his father’s youngest brother. Mr. Courtney’s father, who took much pains with his son’s financial education, was for many years associated with the eminent London banking firm of Messrs. Smith, Bayne & Smith, and under the particular tutelage of E. Cozens-Smith, which our subject enjoyed for many years, he attributes his unusual underwriting abilities. F'or about thirty-one years Mr. Courtney has been with the Imperial Insurance Company, and has served it faithfully, doing an extensive and highly satisfactory business for it. In the year 1895 Courtney returned to his native country. The following letter was received by him in July of that year : To J. ]. CoURTNKY, Es(4 Dear Mr. Courtney ; On behalf of myself and colleagues, the other members of the Court of Directors of this company, I have the pleasure to offer you our congratu- lations on your completion of thirty years’ association with us, and also upon your attainment of the important and responsible position which you fill as the result of the able and zealous service you have rendered during that period, and wishing you a safe and pleasant voyage on your return to your adopted country, and a long continuance of the prosperity which you have won for the company and yourself, I am, hh)urs faithfully, Owen Roberts, Chairman. The Imperial Insurance Company, Limited, availed itself of the presence of Mr. Courtney in lingland and entertained him at a complimentary dinner to signalize the completion of his thirt}’ years’ connection with the company. It was a most enjoyable occasion. DANIEL CONDIT OSMUN WESTERN MAXACER IMPERIAL IXSURAXCE COMPANY, OF LONDON. The city of Chicago is thoroughly cosmopolitan in all that the name implies, and here the European and the (Jriental, the inhabitant of South America and the Antipodean, all go to assist in making the city one of the greatest in the world. While it is true that people from all parts of the globe are inhabitants of the place, by far the greater portion is composed of those who were born and bred in the United States. The State of New York has been prolihc in contributing her share of this heterogeneous mass of humanity, and to the credit of that State be it said that, as a rule, her people are among the brightest and best in the city. Prominent among these is the gentleman whose name forms the heading for this brief notice, Daniel Condit Osmun, the Resident Manager of the Imperial Eire Insurance Company, of London, England. Mr. Osmun was born on the 13th day of Eebruary, 1834, at (brange, Essex County, New Jersey, and was the only child born to the marriage of xAbram P. and Ruth I). Osmun. He received the greater part of his education in New York City, attending there the East Broadway Classical Institute, which, at that time, was conducted by Calvin Tracy, the author of Tracy’s Arithmetic. At the age of sixteen years he began his career in the insurance business as a clerk in the office of the Broadway Insurance Company, and was afterward associated with the Excelsior Insurance Company, and for sixteen years was connected with the Atlantic I'ire Insurance Company. With the last named corporation Mr. Osmun served in various positions, and among them was that of General Agent and Adjuster. Mr. Osmun adjusted the losses of the xAtlantic in the great Chicago lire of 1871, amounting to over $600,000.00, which was the cause of the downfall of that corporation. Mr. Osmun then entered the service of the Eaneuil Hall, of Boston, first as State Agent for New York and later as General Agent for the company. In 1876 he was appointed Superintendent of Agents for the United States of the Imperial and Northern combina- tion, which arrangement lasted until 1881. At that time he came to Chicago and has ever since made Chicago his home. He here opened the Western Department for the Imperial and the Northern, tint after the separation of the two companies about a year later, Mr. Osmun became the Western General x\gent for the Imperial. In 1885, upon the reorganization of the United State managers for the Imperial, the title then held by Mr. Osmun was changed to that of Resident Manager, which title he has since retained. Thus it is shown that for nearly half a century Daniel C. Osmun has been continuously engaged in the fire insurance business, and for the last hfteen years he has been a consjMcuous figure in Chicago insurance circles. As a man of business the name of Daniel C. Osmun is recognized as a synonym for honor; as a private citizen his name is without tarnish. His life has run along in uneventful channels, and in acts he has displayed the teaching of the Golden Rule, “Do ye unto others as }'e would that others should do unto you.” h'or twenty years he has been a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, and he is also a member of the Ibiion League and the Washington Park clubs. In iiolitics he is a firm and outspoken sujiported of the principles of the Repuh- lican jiarty. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. : 2{>0 JOHN C. PAIGE MANAGER OF THE BOSTON DEPARTMENT OF THE IMPERIAE INSURANCE COMPANY OF LONDON. John C. Paige is a native of the State of New Hampshire, where his boyhood was jiassed as clerk in a country store, with an insurance annex. About 1865, he went into the insurance agency business on his own account at Claremont, New blampshire. Four years later he abandoned the country agency for field work as Special Agent, and afterward as General Agent of the Narragansett Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Providence, Rhode Island. In 1873 Mr. Paige, having received the appointment of New England Manager of the Franklin Fire, of Philadelphia, established his head- quarters at Boston, and to the general agency he added a local fire insurance agency and a brokerage business, which in time became very large. During the years whicn followed Mr. Paige was United States Manager for the Metropole of Paris, the Reas- surances Generales of Paris, the City of Fondon b'ire, and the Imperial Fire of Fondon. He retains the Boston Department management of the last named company. His experience has been varied and extended to every department of fire underwriting, but during the past twenty years has centered mostly in the upbuilding of a large local business, including that of the Imperial. His insurance agency at No. 20 Kilby Street, Boston, occupies the entire building, a massive, wide front, five-story and basement structure, supplied with all appliances to especially adapt it to the proper care of the large business there centered, which combines the extensive interests of a broker in fire, liability, accident, general casualty, and transjiortation insurance, and the management for the Metropolitan District of Boston of large and important insurance companies, lipward of one hundred persons are employed in the business of this agency. The various floors are connected by an elevator as well as by stairs, making communication easy from one floor to another, and putting the whole business under complete and constant supervision. THE FIVFRPOOF AND FONDON AND GFOBE INSURANCE COMPANY OF FIVFRPOOF, ENGFAND, Was established in the year 1836, as the Fiverpool Insurance Company. By the marked success experienced in the British metropolis, it was felt desirable in the year 1848 to change the title of the company, and accordingly at that time it became the Fiverpool and Fondon Insurance Company, and, on the accjuisition of the business of the Globe Insurance Company in 1864, the title was further changed to the Fiverpool and Fondon and Globe Insurance Company. In the year 1848 an agency was estab- lished in the United States, and in the year 1851 its first Board of Directors in New York was formed, as follows: James Brown, Chairman; I'rancis Cottenet, Deputy Chairman: C. \V. Faber, Francis Griffin, Geo. Barclay, Royal Phelps, W. S. Wetmore, Edward F. Sanderson, Maturin Fivingston and M. H. Collett. i\Ir. Alfred Pell, who had represented this company as Agent in New York since 1848, was appointed Resident Secretary to the Board, an office he held until his death in 1 869. In the year 1851 were opened agencies at Philadelphia and other important points. Seven years later, the premiums in the United States amounted to $471,988, and, step by step the business of the company has extended to every State in the Union. 20 1 202 THE UNDERWRITER. To afford perfect security to policy holders, the directors early made adequate provision of funds. From surplus income reserves were created, not only affording protection against ordinary loss, but also from those extensive and destructive con- ffagrations which from time to time occur. To such disasters every town is liable, and hence it is incumbent upon prudent men to seek safe insurance, and upon companies to have on hand ample means to protect their clients from otherwise inevitable ruin. This company, by its world-wide business — depending on no particular locality — and large accumulation of funds, affords to insurers and stockholders the complete protection recpnred. The year 1871 accordingly found this company not unprepared to meet its engage- ments. By the conflagration at Chicago in that year, the Liverpool and London and (dobe suffered a loss of $3,239,091, and by the Boston fire, in the following year, it satisfied claims to the extent of $1,427,290. .Although well provided with funds in the United States, the company not merely largely satisfied the demands made upon it from its chief office in England, but at the same time increased its assets in this country, as will be seen from the following state- ment; In 1871 United States assets at January i were $3,054,361; income, $3,163,901: expenditures, $5, 122,653; excess of expenditure, $1,958,752. In 1872, United .States assets at January i were $3,640,450: income, $3,733UOi; expenditure, $4, 484,999- excess of expenditure, $751,898. In 1873, United States assets at January i were $4,165,290. Thus showing excess of expenditure in the United States in the two years of $2,710,650, and an increase of assets in the same time of $1,110,929. It is not surprising that this action, in conjunction with the promptitude shown in the adjustment of these large losses, should be felt in an immediate and very large increase of business, and that a confidence should be inspired (which the lapse of time has, it is believed, in no degree impaired) in the disposition of the company to supple- ment its abundant resources in the United States, whenever necessary, by remittances from headquarters. As an evidence of the estimation in which the company is held in lingland it may be noted that £\oo stock sells for about ^2,450. The following exhibits the progress of the United States branch: In 1848, net fire premiums were, $4,519: in 1858, $471,988; in 1868, $1,739,620: m 1878, $2,422,126; in 1888, $3,928,010: in 1895, $5-600,129. New York Office — Charles II. Marshall, Chairman; John A. Stewart, J. E. Puls- ford, fohn Crosby Brown, Edmund D. Randolph, Henry \V. Eaton, Resident IManager; (ieo. \V. Hoyt, Dejuity Manager. General Agents: James Hendrick, Albany: J. IM. De Camp, Cincinnati; C. E. Guild, Boston; Atwood Smith, Philadelphia; Davenport A Co., Richmond. Chicago Office — Ezra J. Warner, Chairman: Levi Z. Leiter, Henr}’ W. King. \V. S. Warren, Resident Secretary. San Francisco Office — William Alvord, Chairman; Levi Strauss, William Babcock, Lovell White, Charles I). Haven, Resident Secretary: C. IMason Kinne, Assistant Secretary. New Orleans Office — Gustav R. Westfelt, Chairman: L. C. Fallon, Lucas E. Moore, C. M. Soria, Henry \k Ogden, Resident Manager; Clarence P'. Low, Assistant Secretary. 2(34 T H E UNDER W R I T E R. 'I'he forty-eighth annual statement of the United States Branch of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company to December 31, 1S95. follows; Assets: Real estate, $1,752,000; loans on bond and mortgage, S3, 58S, 3 1 8.64: United States 4 jier cent bonds, $1,724,625: state and city bonds, $266,400; cash on hand and in banks. $4 1 5, 29 1 . 1 8; uncollected premiums, $845, 782. 10; all other assets, $78,017.14; total, $8,670,434.06. Liabilities — Unpaid losses, $633,582.54; unearned premiums, $4,075, 773.63; perpetual policy liability, $330,616.21: all other liabilities, $316,344.12: surplus, $3, 3 14, 1 1 7. 56 : total, $8,670,434.06. The amount paid in satisfaction of hre losses in the United States in the course of forty-eight years is $66,440,871.90. HENRY W. EATON RESIDENT MANAGER AT NEW YORK OE THE I.IVERrooE, LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE COM BAN V. The success of foreign insurance companies in this country is largely due to the sagacity and keen business ability displayed by the resident managers having them in charge. This has happily been the case with the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, which ranks among the first companies doing business on the Western Continent. Henry W. Eaton, the Resident Manager at New York, is an Englishman by liirth, but in every other sense of the word is an American. Receiving a ]iractical education and thorough business training in his native land, he early selected underwriting as his vocation in life, and, at the age of thirty and prior to coming to America, was in charge of the West of England Inisiness for the Liverpool and London and Globe, with offices at Bristol, associated with a local board of directors. Mr. Eaton commenced the insurance business in a minor capacity with his present company. After deciding that insurance should be his life’s occupation he began a course of sys- tematic study, wdiich, in the end, familiarized him with every branch of the business. In whatever position he was called upon to fill, he applied intelligent, painstaking care to the subject which invariably brought about beneficial results. Such eftorts on his part were properly appreciated and rewarded by the company. In 1878 he was sent to New ’Girk as Resident Manager, and so acceptably has he filled the requirements of this position that he has been ever since retained in that capacity. In a recent issue of the Insurance Times the following approjiriate mention was made of Mr. Eaton: “Henry W. Eaton possesses those fine qualities of the gentleman that endear him to many besides those who are near to him in the insurance world. Not to know him is not to be aciiuainted in the world of insurance.” ATWOOD SMITH GENERAL AGENT EOR LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND (H.oBE INSURANCE COMPANY AT PHILADELPHIA. It is well known that Philadelphia is the birthplace of insurance in America. The names of William Penn and Benjamin Eranklin, as well as many other illustrious PennsvlYanians, are connected with the inception and earliest development of insurance — marine, fire and life — in Philadelphia. One of the most remarkable of the men 200 THE UNDERWRITER. connected with this business was Richard Somers Smith, Escj., father of our subject, who served as President of the Union Insurance Cf)mpany for nearly Iralf a century — from 1H37 to 18S1 — and who was a very prominent figure in insurance and commercial circles in the City of Brotherly Love during the entire period of his long and useful career. In June, 1837, Smith was elected President of the Union Insurance Company, and continued to guide the affairs of that company until 1881, when, having reached the advanced age of ninety-two, he retired. In the year 1851 he was appointed agent of the Liverpool and London (now the Liverpool and London and Globe) Insurance Company. In that capacity he served until 1861, when he was succeeded by his son, Atwood Smith. Coming from a family that for more than a century had been identified with the insurance business in Philadelphia, it was but natural, perhajxs, that at an early age Atwood Smith should display a remarkable aptitude for this business. He was born in Philadelphia, the home of his ancestors for several generations, in 1820, and resides there at the present time. Lrom the age of nine to fifteen he attended school at Cambridge, iMassachusetts, and Burlington, \'ermont, and after that received a thorough O’ ’O’’ o scholastic training in Philadelphia. He commenced his business career in a jobbing warehouse, where, as boy, salesman and partner, he acquired that knowledge of business and business men so important to the underwriter. Before becoming of age young Smith was an active member of the Good Intent Hose Company. During the Native American riots of 1844 he took an active part, both as fireman and as a member of the artillery corps of Philadelphia Grays. In April, 1861, he was appointed to succeed his father in the agency of the Liverpool and London Insurance Company. In his new position i\Ir. Smith found his experience as an active fireman of great assistance, and soon after commenced his efforts toward the establishment of a fire insurance patrol in the city. In i86g, mostly by his exertions, the patrol was organized, and he was elected its President, which position he resigned in 1890, after twenty years' service. Here again Mr. Smith found a suitable opportunity to indulge his fondness for fighting fire, and for many years was regularly seen on the ground directing the movements of the j'latrol. In 1876 Mr. Smith, at the recjuest of the Commission and Insurance companies, accepted the position of Director of the Centennial Lire Department, and organized a corps of 170 men, with necessary equipments. The beautiful building owned and occupied in part by the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company in Philadelphia was projected and built by the company, under the supervision of Mr. Smith, and there in his office he may be found offering indemnity for loss by fire within a short distance of the room where, forty or more years before, he had waited for the alarm bell to strike. Since the year 1847 has been a member of the Masonic fraternity and takes a deep interest in its affairs. JAMLS M. DL CAMP OF.NF.RAI, .^(■.FXT OF TIIF FIVFRl'OOF .WD FOXDOX AXI) cn.OHF FXSURAXCF COMl’AXV A'l' CIXCIXXATF Mr. De Camp was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 25, 1845, and his j')arents were James and Joanna (IR-ans) De Cam)'). The father descended from I'rench FIRE AND A R I N E. 267 Huguenot and Revolutionary ancestry. lie was one of a large family of brothers who were identihed with the building interests in Cincinnati from 1830 to 1880. Young James attended the Cincinnati public schools during his youth and later entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he was graduated in June, 1867. IMarrying the same summer, he then entered the Cincinnati branch office of the /Utna Insurance Company under |. B. Bennett, General Agent, as correspondent, and two years later, after having received a thorough office training, he became Special Agent of that company in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, continuing as such until April, 1872. He then entered the Andes Insurance Company’s office at Cincinnati and later assisted in closing its affairs in New York State. Following this he became Special Agent of the Amazon Insurance Company in 1873 for New York and New England, with headquarters at Albany, New York, and continued with this company until October i, 1877, when, having negotiated reinsurance of that company’s Eastern business with the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, he became Special Agent of this company for Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, with headquarters at Springfield, Massachusetts. In the month of December, 1879, Mr. De Camp was appointed General Agent for the Liverpool and London and Globe for the Cincinnati district, comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana, West \drginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. Lor thirty years his life has been s['>ent in the fire insurance business in office and field work, with a far Eastern and far Western experience, but at the present time he is in the central section, where he began. Mr. De Camp is domestic and literary in his tastes. He has never cared to hold official positions, but was trustee of the Ohio Wesleyan University for ten years. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity, and ju'efers the quiet walks of life, although taking an ardent interest in all the current movements in church, gov- ernment and societv. In 1859, the company which he now represents having jnirchased the massive stone bank building at the southwest corner Third and Main streets, Cincinnati, estab- lished a general agency for the West under the supervision of Robert Knight, of New York, and William Warren, the company’s representative at Cleveland, Ohio, under the firm name of Knight & Warren, General Agents, which association continued until 1866, when Mr. Warren removed to Chicago and became the company’s Resident Secretary at that point for the far West. iMr. Knight continued to operate the Cin- cinnati branch, tributary to the New York office, until December 8. 1879, when he was succeeded by Mr. De Camp. The business has steadily grown from $114,000 in 1879 to $432,000 net in 1895. i\Ir. De Camp is a fire underwriter by taste and experience and is thoroughly devoted to his company’s interests. HENRY VINING OGDEN RESIDKXT SECRETARV OE THE SOUTHERN DEPARTMENT OE THE LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE COMPANV. The subject of our sketch, Mr. Henry V. Ogden, is the son of the late Gouverneur Ogden and Charlotte Curzon Seton, both of New York City, but became on their marriage in 1805 pioneers of St. Lawrence County, New York, where, on (ffitober 15, 1822, iMr. Ogden was born. THE UNDERWRITER. 2()8 In many respects his career in early life was but the typical one of the American youth. At first he attended the public schools, and later spent three years at the Vermont Episcopal Institute in Burlington — then under the direction of the Right Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Bishop of Vermont — where he had just finished preparing for a collegiate course, when his good intentions in this respect were practically brought to an end by the great revulsion and financial panic of 1837, causing the failure of his father in business and Mr. Ogden’s recall home in 1838. There he was at once con- fronted with the stern problem of how best to earn his own living. Montreal being the nearest commercial city, he sought and secured employment there in the grain exporting house of John and Thomas Gordon, gaining his first knowl- edge and experience of clerical work. In jSgo, long before Horace Greeley had tendered his advice in that connection, deciding to go West, he never stopped until he reached St. Louis, Missouri, where he immediately obtained a position in the large commission and forwarding house of James E. Woodruff & Co., having branch houses in New York and New Orleans, where he remained until 1847, acquiring much valuable business experience. The yellow fever breaking out in New Orleans in 1847, creating many vacant places, Mr. Ogden thought he saw his opportunity of improving his prospects in life and decided to go there at once. He was quickly successful in securing a position in the large cotton and sugar factorage house of Kelly & Conyngham, where he added considerably to his business knowledge. In 1850 he was offered the position of book- keeper and assistant cashier in the agency of the Sun Mutual Insurance Company of New York, then transacting a very large fire, marine and river business in the city of New Orleans. It was while in the employ of this company that in 1854 Mr. Ogden was offered and accepted the appointment of Resident Secretary of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, with a headcjuarters and local board of direction, embracing business in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In April, 1862, when the city of New Orleans surrendered to the Lederal fleet, Mr. Ogden leaving the business in charge of one of his directors, departed for the front, only returning in May, 1865, to find that the company, aftei long waiting, had declared his position vacant and appointed Mr. Andrew Loster Elliott Resident Secretary in his stead, hlowever, out of several positions offered him, he accepted the secretaryship of the Crescent Mutual Insurance Company, Mr. Thomas A. Adams, President.' In 1878, upon the death of Mr. Elliott, he was again offered and accepted his old position of Resident Secretary of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Com- pany and has held the position ever since. In 1892 Mr. Ogden was stricken with apoplexy, followed by paralysis of left side, from which he has only partially recovered, and at this present is giving no attention to the details of the business. It will thus be seen that Mr. Ogden’s connection with the company dates back forty-three years. ITis was the first appointment of any foreign company having a headquarters in the South, leaving him to-day the oldest surviving underwriter in the city of New Orleans. Mr. Ogden having been an old line Whig, his political proclivi- ties are naturally Republican. His war record as a Confederate soldier is a good one, having participated in many battles and had four horses killed under him in different engagements. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has always taken an active, practical part in the charitable, religious and philanthropic work of the city he has so long made his home. The results of the business of the Southern Department are well known and must speak for Mr. Ogden's conduct of the same. His career has been a long and honorable one, leaving him many warm friends. CHARLES DWIGHT HAVEN RESIDENT SECRETARY OE THE LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND OLOHE INSURANCE COMPANY EOR THE PACIFIC COAST. It is seldom that a more able and capable man takes the jiosition of Resident Secretary than Charles 1 ). Haven, whose valuable experience and mature judgment have assisted much toward attaining the company’s success. Eor years he has been a prominent figure in insurance circles, and few such merited examples of success abound. Since the year iredecessors at [Manchester, and while occupying that ]X)sition he several times visited the ITiited States. Through him the selections for the Dcqiartmcnt [Managers of the “Palatine” were made upon its entrance to the ITiitecI 284 THE UNDERWRITER. States in December, 1S92, his mature mind and excellent judgment proving of great value to the company at this time. As the “Palatine " has four branches in the United States, each corresponding direct with the head office in Manchester, it was decided in 1894 that Mr. Bell should reside permanently on this side, and from the spring of that year he has been in the New York office with the title of Joint Manager. His intimate knowledge of the recjuirements of the head office is useful not only in New York but also at the other branches. WILLIAM WOOD JOINT MANAGER OF THE PALATINE INSURANCE COMPANV FOR THE EASTERN AND MIDDLE STATES. The results achieved by the Palatine Insurance Company have not been brought about by good luck or accident, but by the able management of its many capable officials, whose achievements inspire a confidence which no hostile criticism can shake. Among these stands the name of William Wood, Joint iManager of the Palatine Insur- ance Company for the Eastern and IMiddle States. For years he has been a prominent factor in insurance circles and his valuable experience and mature judgment have enabled him to manage his large department with unusual success. Mr. Wood is a native of Scotland and is now in the prime of life. Before leaving his native country he studied law in Glasgow, but subsecjuently abandoned the legal profession for the business of insurance, with which he has been connected since. After some practical experience in this line he became Chief Clerk, in 1872, of the National Board of Underwriters, where he did valuable service, and at the same time acquired much experience in fire underwriting affairs. Ilis connection with the National Board continued until 1877, when he entered the New York office of the Oueen Insurance Company in its Agency Department, but was later placed in charge of its metropolitan district, where his work was highly satisfactory. In the year 1882 Mr. Wood was appointed Assistant United States Manager of the United Fire of Manchester, a sister company to the “Palatine.” This position he hlled in so able and capable a manner that two years later he became Manager. In 1892, when the “United Fire” was absorbed by the “Palatine” Mr. W'ood continued as United States Manager of the latter, and still retains the position in association with Mr. Whlliam Bell. Mr. WMod’s record as Manager of the “United h'ire ” was a most creditable one, and in the larger field and more extended operations of the “Palatine” he has fully sustained his former excellent reputation. GEORGE MARSHALL FISHER MANAGER OF THE WESTERN DEl'ARTMENT OF IHE PALATINE INSURANCE COMPANY, LLMITED. It is almost invariably the case that reliable, intelligent and capable men are chosen to fill resixmsible positions, and the case of George M. Fisher, iManager of the Western Department for the Palatine Insurance Coinjian}*, is no excejMion to this rule. It is indeed a mark of high favor shown him by so great a company as the Palatine, to repose in him the duties directing the management of its affairs in the Western Department. In this capacity he has convinced the public that he has a most solid 280 THE UNDER W R I T E R. and substantial company to act for, and has proved himself a reliable and trustworthy official, as well as a gentleman of indisputable honor and integrity. Mr. Fisher is a native of the Buckeye State, l)orn at Painesville on the 15th of November, 1857, and the son of Nathaniel iMerrill and Rhoda (Wilder) Fisher. In the common schools of his native place he received his primary training, and after graduating from the high school in 1876, he entered the Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio, where he completed his education. The two years following this he was engaged in merchandising, but on the ist of January, 1880, he branched out in the local insurance business at Painesville, Ohio, and gave most of his attention to this for three years. These three years were productive of good results for Mr. Fisher. His abilitv and perseverance soon were recognized, and in 1883 he was appointed Special Agent of the Insurance Company of North America and Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Compan)- in Ohio and West Virginia, a }X)sition he retained until 1885. He then accepted the position of General Correspondent in J. F. Downing's General Agenc\’ office at Erie, Pennsylvania, where he remained for one year. He then became Special Agent for the same companies in Ohio and Indiana, and in September, 1887, was appointed Special Agent of the London Assurance Corporation for Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, under the management of Charles L. Case. Mr. h'isher discharged the duties of that position most zealously until September I, 1892, when he was appointed Manager of the United Fire Reinsuring Compan}-, and the same position for the Palatine Insurance Company, Limited, of Manchester, England, for the Western Department (which is independent, reporting direct to the home office at Manchester, England), with jurisdiction over fourteen States — Ohio, Indiana, Mich- igan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Mr. Fisher has brought to his work for the company a long and valuable experience in the held, associated with rare executive ability, which have enabled him to oversee his large department and greatly advance the interests of the company. In his social relations he is a member of the Union League and Chicago Athletic clubs, and the college fraternity society knowm as the Delta Kappa Epsilon. Politically he supports Republican principles and believes in high tariff and sound money. CHARLES JANVIER MANAGKR OF THE SOUTHERN I )E1’ARTM EN'l' OE 'I'lIE PAEATINE INSURANCE COMI’ANV. Charles Janvier was born in the city of New' Orleans on the 8th day of September, 1857, was educated at the Jesuits’ College in that city, and upon leaving school entered the office of George 11. Behn, an exchange broker, w'ith w-hom he remained for several years. Upon lea^■ing Mr. Behn's employ, Mr. Janvier became connected with a Erench cotton exporting house and later became associated with his father, Mr. Charles Janvier, under the firm name of C. A. janvier A Son, insurance agents and brokers. In 1886 he became associated with Mr. E. G. Brown in the conduct of The X’iudicator, an insurance journal published in New Orleans, and left this business to organize a life insurance company, which venture did not prove successful, for after ten and a half months’ experience the compan}- w-as liijuidated. 288 THE UNDERWRITER. In February, 1(890, Air. Janvier entered the service of the Sun AI ritual Insurance Company as Solicitor, and in February, 1891, was elected Secretary of the company. When the Palatine Insurance Company, Limited, established its Southern Depart- ment. Mr. L. AI. Finley, the President of the Sun Alutual Insurance Company and Air. Janvier were appointed Alanagers, and upon the death of Air. Finley in 1894 Janvier was unanimously elected President to succeed him, and was continued as Alan- ager of the Southern Department by the Palatine Insurance Company, Limited. Air. Janvier was married in 1883 to Aliss Josephine Celeste Bush, a daughter of the late Colonel Louis Bush, at one time Speaker of the House of Representatives of Louisiana and IT'esident of the Board of Trade. He is the father of eight children, six girls and two boys. Air. Janvier occupies several positions of honor and trust in his city, being a Director of the Canal Bank, an Administrator of the Tulane Educational Fund, President of the Fire IMtrol, and is the President of the Citizens’ League, a municipal reform organization, which, at the election in April, 1896, broke up the ring which had domi- nated city politics, and installed a reform administration. THEODORE W. LETTON M^\NAGKR OF 'I'llE UNITED STATES BRANCH OF THE PRUSSIAN NATIONAE INSURANCE COMPANV. It has been said, and with truth, that success in any calling is an indication of close application, industry and faithfulness. Such has been the case with Air. Theodore \\\ Letton, Alanager of the United States Branch for the Prussian National Insurance Company, of Stettin, Prussia. He is classed among the energetic, far-seeing and suc- cessful men engaged in insurance matters, and during the twenty-six years he has devoted to this jirofession his valuable experience in the field and his superior executive ability have not only won him an enviable reputation, but have greatly advanced the interests of the different companies he has represented. Air. Letton is a native of the Hawkeye State, born July 23, 1840, near Daven- port, \vhither his parents had moved from Covington, Kentuck}', a few months before, b'rom Davenport they moved to Quincy, Illinois, about two years later, and in the private schools of the latter city young Letton received his education. When about eighteen years old he was elected Captain of the Quincy Cadets, a military organiza- tion of young men that subseiiuently became known as one of the best drilled companies in the State. In September, 1861, he was mustered into service as First Lieutenant of Com- pany C, Fiftieth Illinois Infantry, and after serving for a short time on the staff' of General B. AI. Prentiss he joined his regiment and was with General Grant at Forts Henry and Donelson and at Shiloh. Not long after the last named battle he was promoted to Adjutant, and after the siege and capture of Corinth, in which he was an active particijiant, he was detailed as Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Third Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, remaining on duty in that position for about eighteen months. W'hile on the Atlanta campaign he was detailed as Acting Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of General William A'andever, who was com- manding the troops at Rome, Georgia, and held that position until the end of his term of service. THE IT N D K R W R I T E R. 2'.»0 I'ollowing the war, Captain Letton settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was engaged in merchandising for a number of years and afterward in the local insurance business. During the years he has been engaged in hre insurance he has been con- nected with a number of companies in dilferent capacities. For a number of years he was Manager of the Western Department of the Fire Association of England, and as a result of his successful operations was made Manager of the United States branch of that company, with headtjuarters in New ^’ork City. Me was afterward Manager of the Western Department of the Union of California, and in 1891, when the Prussian National Insurance Company decided to establish a PTnited States branch. Captain I.etton was aj^pointed General Manager, with headquarters in Chicago. Personally the Captain is a companionable gentleman and the possessor of those (]ualities which eminently ht him for the important position he now occupies and which calls for a clear head and no ordinary force of character. Socially he is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and of several societies and clubs in this cit}’. He has a wide circle of friends outside of insurance, and his personal influence and force of character strike one at the first impact of meeting him. THE KOYAE INSURANCE COMPANY. Among the many monuments erected by the strong hand of industry to give the world proof as strong as holy writ of man’s superior intelligence, untiring energy and great advancement, but few stand more boldly before the critical gaze of the nations at the jn-esent time than The Royal Insurance Company. This company was founded at Liverpool, England, in 1845, ^T-st fire policy being issued on June 14, for <;i5,ooo, on the household goods of a prominent business man of Liverpool. The company was organized under the then existing act of Parliament authorizing joint stock companies for the transaction of fire and life insurance, and its first life policy was issued June 25, 1845, to iMr. Percy M. Dove, the company’s first Manager and Secretary. The prospectus of the company was issued on the 20th of March, 1845, giving the names of twenty-four prominent citizens, headed by the Mayor of Liverpool, as a provisional committee, and announcing a proposed capital of 2,000,000 pounds, in one hundred thousand shares, of twenty pounds each. On the last of December of the year 1845 the number of shares allotted was reported at 78,970, which at twenty pounds per share would amount to 1,579,400 pounds. The cjuest for business was cautiouslv conducted at first, but 1846 found the comjmny with representatives in India, Brazil and New Brunswick. In 1847 agencies were established in Chili and Peru, in 1848 in lUirbadoes, Gothenburg and Sourabaya, in 1849 at St. John’s, New P'oundland. in 1850 at Montreal, and in 1851 and ’52, respectively, at Sidney and Melbourne, Australia, and U. S. of America. d'he company’s business prospered from the start, and in 1849, in less than four years after organization, the Directors authorized the sum of $441,400 to be taken from the accumulated funds and capitalized by adding five dollars to each share issued. By 1854, when the Royal had agencies in all the jnancij'ial countries, including the Ihiited States, the fire premiums amounted to $2,845,305. The total assets are nearly fifty millions of dollars, of which over twenty-two millions are for the protection of its fire insurance business. Its fire premiums in 1895 amounted to more than $10,000,000, the largest fire premium income of any conqiany in the world. FIRE AND MARINE. 291 Very naturally, the Royal has shared in most of the big fire losses of the world during the past fifty years and has been able to honor all demands under its policies promptly. Its losses in the Tooly fire in London were $400,000, and in the Boston fire it paid over a million dollars. It lost $375,000 in the fire that nearly destroyed St. John, New Brunswick, and $500,000 in the fire that swept over St. John’s, New Foundland, in 1892. These payments were jmomptly made, and still the funds kept on accumulating. During its history several strong and many small companies have been absorbed by the Royal, the most noted of which was the amalgamation of the Queen Insurance Company with the Royal in 1891, the largest transaction of the kind m the annals of insurance. There have been comparatively few changes in the head office management of the Royal. Percy M. Dove was the first General Manager, then John H. McLaren, suc- ceeded by Charles Alcock, who holds that position at the present time, Mr. Jeffrey Beavan being Sub-Manager. The business of this company in the United States dates back forty-five years, to 1851-52, when it entered the United States, with branches in New York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, under Mr. A. B. McDonald in New York, Geo. Wood in Philadelphia, and Dr. John S. Law in Cincinnati. With Mr. A. B. McDonald in New York was associated a board of United States citizens as advisory. Later Mr. E. F. Beddall, connected with another important branch, became associated with Air. McDonald and at his death succeeded him and is the jmesent Resident Manager at New York, being looked upon as one of the very foremost insurance men of the day. No company is more ably managed. Offices have been established all over this country. Law Brothers are managers of the WTstern Department, compris- ing fourteen States, with offices in the comjiany's building, Chicago, Illinois. Barbee & Castleman, of Louisville, Ky., are Managers of the Southern Department, having char^ie of the entire South, some twelve States; Scull A I'ield, of Boston, are Manatjers of New lUigland Dejtartment; John Tenney, at Idriladeljihia, is Manager of the Middle Department: Robert V. Watt, of San Francisco, Manager I’acffic Coast Dejxirtment. The conij'iany’s reputation for fair and honorable dealing is very high. 1 <:. V. BKDDALI. MAXA(;KR ok I'IIK ROVAI, IXSURAXXE COMPAXV at XKW YORK. To the student of human nature there is nothing more interesting than the analysis of the life history of a self-made man and the study of the characteristics which have enabled him to pass many others on the highway of life and to reach a position of prominence in the community, d'his is iiarticularly true of those comprising the great insurance world of this country, who owe their advancement, as Mr. Beddall owes his, to few influences beyond their own stiwling qualities and a fixed determination to succeed in a carefully chosen calling. Since the year 1863, when E. F. I^eddall became Super- intendent of Agencies for the London branch, he has been connected with the Royal Insurance Company, and to-da}- he is one of the most important of the staff of this great corporation, lieing its Resident New h'ork Manager. Mr. Beddall is a native of that “right little, tight little island” bingland, and was born in the County of Essex in the year 1839. W'hile loving his native land with that ardent feeling characteristic of all Enf^lishmen, i\Ir. Beddall has become thoroughlv imbued with the American feelin<: of independence and is a warm admirer of American institutions, under which the best years of his life have been spent, and where a lull measure of prosperity has attended him. In the year 1862 he first yisited the American continent, trayelinc through Canada and the northwestern portion of the United States. Howeyer, he remained in the London office until the year 1871, when he moved to Montreal and became Manager of the Canadian branch of the Royal. Some two years later he was appointed Manager of the New' York office, which position he so ably filled that has not only since continued in that cajiacity, but has gathered to himself the golden opinions of the stockholders and officials. Keen of discernment, possessed of superior Imsiness ability, i\Ir. Ifeddall has displayed managerial cjualification as to entitle him to tl'.e foremost rank among the American managers of European companies. Having finally determined that his permanent home and that of his family should be in the United States, he renounced his allegiance to Oueen \hct(n'ia, in 1888, and became a naturalized citizen of the greatest republic ever know’u, and is in full and thorough accord whth its religious, educational, political and other institutions of a public nature. In New' York he is an active member of lousiness and social circles, and is regarded by all those with w'hom he comes in contact as a steadfast friend, and a man w'hose public and jmivate character is alx)ve reproach. He is Ih'esident of the St. George Society, one of the oldest National societies of this countiw', and embracing in its mem- l)ership all of the leading Englishmen of the city. So interested has Mr. Beddall l)ecome in the wellfare of this organization that he has w'ritten and had published a historical sketch of its origin and w'ork. He has been \’ice-President of the St. James and is a member of the Dow'n Tow'n Club, is a member of the Larchmont ^'acht Club, is w'arden of the Church of St. George the Martyr, has been one of the Board of Management of St. Luke’s hospital, representing the interests of British immigrants in that w'orthy institution, and upon the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of Oueen X'ictoria he w'as Chairman of the New h’ork Jubilee Committee. Mr. Beddall is among the foremost of the insurance men of this countiw. and in all respects is a credit to the land of his ado])tion. JOMN HUGH LAW OF THE FIRM OF LAW BRO'niERS, MANAGERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT OF THE ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF LIYERPOOL. John H. Law enjoys the distinction among the United States representatiYes as lieing longest in the sei'Yice of the Royal. The insurance liusiness is the hereditarY occupation of the Law family. Dr. John S. Law, father of John H. Law and George W. Law, the present Managers of the Western Department, opened the first office of the Royal Insurance Company in the West in 1852. His sons were bred to the work. 'I'heir father’s motto, “Be Diligent in Business,” inscribed upon the mantelpiece in the old Cincinnati office, has ever dominated their lives, and no one knowing them ever doubts that this has been a most prominent factor in their success. 'J'he Laws are members of an old Southern family of English descent. The father. Dr. John S. Law, was born in Savannah, Georgia, came to Cincinnati in 1848, and was one of the first appointees of the Royal Insurance Company in the United States — the other two being Mr. McDonald in New York and Mr. George AVood in Philadelphia. The subject of this sketch was educated under a private tutor and later at Heron College, a noted school of that day. He early became associated with his father in the Cincinnati office, continuing with him until . the time of his father’s decease, and succeeding him in the management of the business. He can record a continuous management — father and sons — for forty-four years — a record of which the family of Law can well be proud. John H. Law is a man of strong personale and possessed of a rugged constitution. He is of a bold, fearless nature, aggressive, and ever on the alert, and nothing can deter him in the performance of any honorable course that makes for the best inter- ests of the Royal. Warm in his friendships, he counts every man a friend who is a worthy representative of the Royal Insurance Company. Genial of manner, his social life is strongly marked. Numbered among his personal friends are men prominent in the affairs of the country, who admire him for his strength of principle and dignity of character. He is ardent in his enjoyment of field sports, and, a true lover of nature, re- treats to her solitudes at his vacation periods to renew' his strength and gather from that source vigor of mind and body, all of w'hich has tended .greatly to the ruggedness of physi(}ue for which he is noted. The untiring zeal of the Law' family has tended to place the Royal prominently in the front throughout the old Cincinnati Department. One year ago the fealty of the Messrs. Law' was forcibly demonstrated in the breaking up and removal from their old home and associations in Cincinnati to Chicago, to become Alanagers of the com- bined territory formerly constituting the Central and Northw'estern Departments, com- prising fourteen States. Their ajipointment to the management of this enlarged field, now' known as the Western Department, after years of thorough testing, set the seal of appreciative ajiproval upon their untiring faithfulness to the company’s interests. Such is the measure of confidence with which the Royal Insurance Company has recog- nized nearl)' fifty years of faithlul service on the part of the Law family. To be ap- preciated in one’s life w'ork is the goal which honest ambition is always seeking. When you add to appreciation merited rew'ard, you place the cajistone on the structure. •204 (;p:ok’(;p: wallacp: law OF THF FIRM OF LAW BROTHERS, MANAGERS WESTERN DEPARrMEN'l' OF THE ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY OE LIYERPOOL. This gentleman, together with his brother, John II. Law, whose biography precedes, constitute the firm of Law Brothers, Managers of the Western Department of the Royal Insurance Company. He receiYed a liberal education; was fitted for Yale College (where his father graduated with distinguished honors), but turned aside to enter upon a business career. In 1873 he entered his father’s office, and there was most thoroughly grounded in every detail of the business. His training was thorough, for his father had the reputation of being a strict disciplinarian, a man of unusual caj'iacity and sterling integrity. With such business discipline. Dr. Law's sons were well fitted to succeed him. After the death of Dr. Law, the firm of John 11 . Law & Brothers was formed in 1 88 1, consisting of John H. Law and George W. Law, together with another brother, Charles II. Law, who is now in charge of the Cincinnati office. The man- agement of the Central Dejiartment thus continued until August, 1895, when the two lirothers, John H. and George W. , moved to Chicago (having had bestowed upon them by the Royal the signal honor of enlarged responsibility, as described in the biographv of John H. Law preceding), and formed the firm of Law Brothers, Managers for the new Western Department. George W. Law is an earnest student, and bears the reputation of being one of the hardest workers in the profession. The details of the business are thoroughly within his grasp, and little escapes him that makes for its advancement. Indefatigable, original and progressive, he is ever controlled by a lofty ambition to worthily win the largest attainable success for the Royal, and is never so happy as when planning some new measure of strength. His far-sighted policy and close application have contributed in a marked degree to the success attending the work of their firm. In private life, Mr. Law is noted among his friends as being a man of true re- finement, delicate and sensitive in all his tastes, and enjoying to the fullest whatever pertains to the artistic in home life. Fond of the best in literature, his recreation is found in his books, to which he is devoted, having collected a library of the most select character. lie has the highest sense t)f personal honor, and nothing can induce him to serve a selfish end at the expense of his princi}')les. Both of these brothers have the reputation of being men of the utmost courage and spirit, whose loyalty to the Royal is as marked as their regard for the honor of their family name. It occurs few times in the history of any great business or profession that men are honored more for fidelity or receive higher reward than has been accorded to these gentlemen b\- the Royal Insurance Company, whose welfare they have ever ser\'ed. CHARLES II. CASK MANAGER FOR COOK COCN'l'V, ILLINOIS, OF TIIF ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY. The State of Vermont is always suggestive of the lumest, hard and rugged characters in human life. It presents to the mind pictures of the bold (Keen Mountain boys and brave Ethan Allen before the gates of Ticonderoga. It was people like those who won their independence from the Eritish king and laid the basis of this great American nation. It is their descendants who have become prominent in all the affairs of the country and formed the nucleus of a great territory and a great people. Charles H. Case, Manager for Cook County of the Royal Insurance Company, is a native of Vermont, born in the town of Coventry, Orleans Count}", September 8, 1S29. His father was a Congregational minister and did much pioneer work in the Green Moun- tain State in those early days. His mother, whose maiden name was Phoebe Hollister, was descended from one of the best known Connecticut families. The Cases came originally from Yorkshire, England, and hrst settled in Connecticut. Existing records show that the family was already established in the North of England as early as the iith century. Its coat of arms is a flying globe on an azure held, with the motto. Super sidera votum. Several ancestors on both sides took active part in the Revolutionary War, shedding their blood and laying down their lives for independence. Until about the age of sixteen Charles H. Case attended the common school of his native town, and then began clerking in a country store, where he obtained the varied experience that the handling of its heterogeneous stock those comparatively primitive times afforded. After spending three years in that manner he entered an advanced school and took a course of study equivalent to the ordinary college curriculum of those early days. This enabled him to carry out a plan, long formed, to engage in the teaching profession, and he immediately turned his face toward the setting sun, reaching Illinois, where he taught in a private school. Eor several years he wielded the ferule and then became Superintendent of Graded Schools, which position he held until embarking in the insurance business. Wdiile still holding this position he became interested in the local business, represent- ing the City Eire Insurance Company of Peoria, the .-Etna, and several other companies. This was as early as 1858. Success rewarded him in this branch of human endeavor, and he subsequently withdrew from the educational field and devoted himself exclusively to insurance. Shortly afterward he became Special Agent of the Home Insurance Comjiany, with which he remained for about three years, and then, early in the sixties, became S)')ecial Agent and subse(}uently Assistant General Agent for the Insurance Company of North America, a position he held up to the time of the Chicago fire. After that he liecame Manager ol the Royal Insurance Company for the Northwestern States, and continued in that capacity until the year 1890. His connection with the Insurance Company of North America extended over a period of thirty years. Besides hlling the position of Superintendent of Graded Schools, as above mentioned, Mr. Case was President of the Hoard of Directors of the Washingtonian I lome, of Chicago, for twenty years, and held the office of Alderman in the Chicago Citv Council for two years. He always had a decided taste for the natural sciences, which he has cultivated, more or less, all his life, as business cares permitted. He has made several trips to ITirope and has \isited the principal places of interest on that continent. Originally he was reared a Congregationalist, and is now a member of that church . 800 r H E II N D E R W R I T E R. No one has been more prominent in the underwriting profession during the past thirty years than Mr. Case. Having a thoroughly logical and analytical mind, and with full knowledge of the law of insurance, which he acquired early in his career, he has been, and still is, constantly consulted on the intricate legal c|uestions which incessantl}' arise in this business, and his decisions are received with implicit confidence. I le has been a most loyal citizen of Chicago, and in the panic which followed the great confiagrations in this city — and when many strong companies were about to retire — it was his firm and indej^endent action which finally restored confidence and prevented this city from l)eing without the security afforded by the large insurance companies. Mr. Case’s underwriting views have always been on conservative lines, looking rather to securing profit for the interests which he represented than obtaining a large volume of business without due regard to its (juality. In politics he is substantially in accord with the Republican party. On the 25th of March, 1H52, he married Miss Laura Perry Farnsworth, a native of \’ermont. They have no children. EDWARD P)EECHER CASE max.v(;kr for cook coiwrv of 'I'hk rovaf ixsuranck comfaxv. There are men of such broad minds, wide information and wonderful tact that, by husbanding their forces and planning their various enterprises with something like military precision, they are enabled to accomplish splendid results in different walks of life. Gifted with natural ability of a high order. Mr. Ivdward Beecher Case has devoted his talent to the insurance business, in which he has gained a prominent place and an enviable rejuitation. lie is at present a member of the firm of Case & Conqiany, Managers for Cook County of the Ivoyal Insurance Company of Liverpool and the Svea Assurance Company of Sweden, and Local Agents of the London Assurance Corporation of London. Mr. Case was born in the Bay State, the city of Boston, February 2, 1853, but for a number of years has resided at Evanston, Cook County, Illinois. He is a son of L)’man G. Case (brother of Charles H. Case of Chicago). The father was born in \Trmont, and the mother, Mary (Cushing) Case, was a native of iMaine, born at Turner, and seventh in descent from john Alclen, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. Ifdward B. Case attended the public schools of Cambridge, Massachusetts, until he had reached the age of fifteen, and then entered the employ of Case & Heywood, at that time State Agents and Adjusters for the Insurance Conqiany of North America, where he remained for a little over a year, serving in the capacity of office boy. Returning to the East to coirqdete his education, Mr. Case entered Phillips Academv, Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1873. In the sjning of that year he entered Vale College, but on account of poor health was obliged to give up his college ])lans. Later, or in 1875, he entered the insurance office of his uncle, Charles 11 . Case, and has been with him continuously since, occupving every position in the office. He is at present 'breasurer of the I'nderwriters’ Associa- tion of Chicago, a nmmber of the Ibiion League Club of Chicago, the Society of Colo- nial Wars of Chicago, and the Evanston and Country clubs of IG'anston. Mr. Case is a Trustee of the Congregational Church ot bA'anston. and is a regular attendant of T H E U N D E R W R I T E R. ;^()2 the same. His political views accord with those of the Kepuhlican jiarty, with which he has always been identified. Mr. Case selected his wife in the person of Miss Lily Prentiss, daughter of Rev. N. A. Prentiss, of Aurora, Illinois, and their marriage took place in the year 1880. Four children were born to them, one son and three daughters. i\Ir. Case has two brothers in the insurance business, Charles Lyman Case, the United States iManager of the London Assurance Corporation, and Frank C. Case, a jirominent local agent of St. Louis, and State x\gent of the Pennsylvania Fire. Mr. Case’s success in the insurance business has l)een the result more of his own efforts, sagacity and sound judgment than of any other cause. Lie is cjuick, accurate and reliable, and has a genius for hard work, which enables him to dispatch an immense amount of work day after day. GEORGF WOOD l.Al'E MAXAC.EK MIDDl.E OEI’ARTMENT oE I'lIE ROYAL INSURAXXE CO.MPAW. Mr. George Wood was born in January, 1818, in lidinburgh, Scotland; his father. Lord Wood, being one of the Judges of the Court of Sessions. He studied in Edinburgh and afterward in Germany. After leaving school he was employed for some time in the large dry goods house of Mr. Timothy Wiggins in London, among whose correspondents was the, at that time, welbknown dry goods house of A. & G. Ralston of Philadelphia. In 1837 Mr. Wood determined to come to America, and obtained a situation with them. After a few years he went into the dry goods business on his own account with Messrs. Wells & Fuller, the firm being W’ood, Fuller & Wells. In 1851, while being on a visit to his parents, he was informed that Mr. Dove, the, at that time. Manager of the Royal Insurance Compan}', and a personal friend of his family, was contemj')lating the establishing of agencies in the United States, and wished an interview with him on the subject. i\Ir. Wood called on him in Liverpool, and agreed to consider the (Question on his return to Philadelphia, and write him on the sul)ject. This he did, and received the appointment of Agent of the company in the spring of 1852, a position he filled most efficiently until the time of his death, September 4, 1895. In 1855 the firm of Wood, I'uller & Wells was dissolved, and from that time Mr. W'ood gave all his time to the interest of the Royal Insurance Company. By i860 the Philadelphia agency was in receijR of about $100,000 of annual premiums, a very large business for those days. In 1870 his field was extended to cover the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. At the time of his death he was the oldest living emplo}’e of the comjiany, having served them about forty-three years. During his management the company received in his department in premiums $13,119,360.04, with losses amounting to $7,842,199.08, which included $107,000 lost at Chicago on business written in Philadelidda, lor which they received about $7,000 in ju'cmiums. Mr. Wood always held a most prominent position among the underwriters of Philadelphia, and his ojnnion on aiu' question of policy or disjuite was always high!}’ regarded. Everyone doing business with him felt that the\' could absoluteh’ rel\' upon r II K U N D E RW R IT E R. 8(»4 his word, and the result was that the Royal Insurance Company obtained a local position in Philadelphia which it is rarely the fortune for a foreign corporation to obtain. Mr. Wood was a believer in all organizations for the promotion and benefit of the fire insurance l)usiness, and always occupied a prominent position therein, being at the time of his death a member of the Ivxecutive' Committee of the Philadelphia Fire V nderwriters' Association. Mr. Wood’s death was the occasion of unusual sorrow, for all felt the loss sustained by his death. Genial, accomplished, unpretentious, few men have been more highlv respected. JOHN PENNEY MAXAC.KR OF TIIK .M[I)I)LK D F I’A R'l'.M EXT OF ROVAL IXSURAXCF COMl’AXV. It increases one's ])ride in liis country when he meets in all the activities of life exam]')le alter example of men who have risen from the ranks, step by step, to the highest positions. Here there are no permanent classes; the poor man of to-day may l)e the rich man of to-morrow. The l)oy with talent, honest}' and industry is a candi- date for a better place as soon as he is fitted for it. John Tenney, Manager of the Royal Insurance Company’s Pennsylvania Department, is an illustration. He has risen to his present position by reason of splendid business and executive abilities. Mr. Tenney is a native of the Old Kay State, born at Methuen, December 14, 1847, and is now a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents, John and Augusta (Sprague) Tenney, were natives of New England and of New England ancestrv. The Tenneys settled in Massachusetts in 1638, and the Spragues as early as 1623, with Miles Standish. These ancestors were prominent men in the colonial period and both liranches were represented in the wars of 1776, 1812 and 1861. John Tenney, Jr., received his education at Ifiiillips Academy in Andover, Massa- chusetts, and, following the example of many young men of the time, he went to sea when but fourteen years old, in the merchant service. This was a long voyage, for the first one, as they went to Australia, New Zealand, East India and China. Returning to the United States in 1864, Mr. Tenney entered the naval service as a master mate and served until some time after the war. After that eventful period he was engaged in various enterprises until 1870, when he entered the office of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company in New Y’ork, and became Special Agent for the IMiddle Department in 1875. This jmsition he resigned in 1882 and entered the service of the C'lerman American Insurance Company of New Y’ork as Special Agent in the same field. The duties of that position he discharged in a capable and satisfactory manner, until 1885, when he left that company to become associated with Henry \\’. Brown of Philadelphia, in the management of the Southeastern Department of the Niagara of New Y’ork. Previous to this, in 1890, he became Assistant Ylanager of the Royal for the Pennsylvania Dejiartment, with headcjuarters at Philadelphia, and after the death of Mr. ( leorge Wood, in September, 1895, became Ylanager. Mr. Tenne}’ has made it the one rule of his life to do his whole dutv as best he could wherever placed, and is content to let results do all the talking. KICIIAKI) EMORY WARIMELI) ASSrSTANT MAXAdER MIDDLE DE I’A RTM EN'l' OE 'I'HE ROVAl- INSURANCE COMPANY. Conspicuous among those in the fields of insurance who have been endowed with native ability and talent is R. Emory Warheld, Assistant Manager of Philadelphia Department of the Royal Insurance Company. By a thorough knowledge of the busi- ness, gained step liy step, while in the employ of some of the most solid and substantial insurance comjianies of this country, he has won an excellent reputation and is eminently qualified for the position he now holds. lie has always done good service, has a capacitv lor employment, and is thoroughly alive to the interests of the company he represents. lie first saw the light in Baltimore County, Maryland, at “Manor Glen,” the family homestead, August ii, 1855, but for some time now has resided in the “City of lE'otherly Love." He is a son of Hon. Henry Mactier and Anna (Emory) Warfield, natives of Maryland. The father was a member of the Maryland Legislature at the breaking out of civil war and experienced all the horrors of prison life, having been conhned in Eort McHenry, Eortress klonroe, Eort Lafayette and Eort Warren, for six- teen months. Iv. Emorv Warheld took a general course of studies in the private school of Mr. George G. Carey in Baltimore, Maryland, during his youth, and early evinced a decided liking for reading, which taste has continued with him up to the present time. He has a great liking for country life and now owns and conducts a stock farm of two hundred acres about twelve miles from Baltimore, Maryland, where he resided previous to his removal to Philadelphia. In the year 1870 he entered the office of Messrs. J. I. i\Iid- dleton & Company, cotton factors, of Baltimore, Maryland. He remained with that firm until 1871 and then became junior clerk in the office of the Eiremen’s Insurance Company of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1878 he was elected Secretary of this company, a position his ability and fidelity merited, but resigned that position in 1882 to take charge of the States of Maryland and Delaware for the Con- tinental Insurance Company of New "^hirk. He successfully managed its business in those States, greatly increasing its receipts, and enjoying the personal friendship of its late President, Mr. George T. Hope, during his connection with that company. In the year 1885 he resigned that position and transferred his service to the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool, becoming Manager of the Baltimore Department, com- prising the States of klarvkind, \hrginia, North Carolina and District of Columbia. West X’irginia was added to the department in 1895. ^^kudield managed the Bal- timore Department most ably until January i, 1896, at which date the Philadelphia and Baltimore departments were consolidated, with Mr. John Tenney as Manager and Mr. Warfield as Assistant Manager. Their States are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Del- aware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, West \’irginia and District of Columbia, with headquarters at 306 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. Mr. Warfield has never been out of employment a single day since he started in the insurance business in 1870. He has lieen identified with various manufacturing enterprises in the city of Bal- timore, and his social relations are very pleasant. Mr. Warfield is a member of the Roval Arcanum, Order of the Golden Chain and Order Heptasophs. He has traveled quite extensively, over this countrv, Canada, Nova Scotia and Cuba. Erom youth up he has been a member of the Episcopal Church. In politics he is pronounced Tariff Reform Democrat of the “Cleveland” stamp. On the 19th of April, 1881. he married Miss Betty Davies, a great-grandniece of President Monroe. HOG GEORGE P. EIEED MANAGER OF THE ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF ENGLAND AND THE PENNSYLYANIA FIRE, OF ITIILADELPIIIA FOR NE\Y ENGLAND. The energy and determination which characterize the American citizen as a whole are nowhere to be found so well illustrated as in the insurance business, nor is their native high principle and fairness of purpose more thoroughly exemplified than in this great industry. Prominent among those who have won a name in this branch of human endeavor is George P. Eield, ^Manager of the Royal Insurance Company of England and of the Pennsylvania Eire, of Philadelphia. Ilis life has been an active one, fraught with good common sense, and his vigorous, businessdike administration as Manager is further proof of his extraordinary executive powers. Mr. Eield is a product of the Pine Tree State, born in Searsmont, MTldo County, October 17, 1844. A few months later his parents removed to the shire town of the county, Belfast, where the father subsecjnently became Registrar of Probate and incidentally the local agent. In the public schools of Belfast young Eield gained his primary education and later entered the high school, from which he was graduated in 1S60, afterward entering his father’s office to take charge of the insurance branch. At that time the elder Eield represented the “Springfield,” the “Massasoit of Spring- field,” the “New England, of Hartford,” the “Putnam, of Hartford,” the “Hartford,” and the “Home,” of New Haven. George P. Eield remained in his father’s office until the first draft was ordered for troops during the Civil War, when he was engaged by the Provost Marshal as a temporary clerk, expecting to remain there a week or ten days. In fact, however, he continued in that office until after the surrender of Richmond, being appointed in 1864 Deputy Ih'ovost Marshal, in full charge of the clerical work of the entire district. Later he was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs, but held that position but a short time. He was married in 1870, and soon afterward moved to Bangor, Maine, where he liecame Assistant Secretary of the “National Fire Insurance Company of Bangor,” a company whose brilliant career was terminated by the untortunate conflagration in Boston in 1872. He was with that company less than a year, and then was engaged by the “First National Fire,” of Worcester, Massachusetts, as Special Agent. Later he became their General Agent, and at the time of the Boston fire was the Secretar'. of the company, and in the following year had the pleasure of paying the stockholders the first dividend that the company had ever earned. In the summer of 1873 he resigned the secretaryship to accept the special Agency of the “Royal” and “Pennsylvania” fibre Insurance companies, then as now under Boston management, the name of the firm then being Foster & Scull. Later he was appointed General Agent, and in 1885 became a member of the firm. In these times of agency changes, it is interesting to note that the firm of which iMr. fibeld is a member has since 1872, with the exception of a few years when the “London and Lancashire” was in the agency, represented the same companies without change — the New Ivngland Agency of the “Royal” and “Pennsylvania,” and the Boston agency of the “Insurance Company of North America” and the “American,” of Philadelifliia. Mr. fi'ield is a member of the oldest military organization in America — the 30.S THE U N E R W R I T E R. ;R() Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. This membership involves the necessity of his eating two or three company dinners annually, and paying certain fines and assessments, in consideration of which he enjoys an exemption from jury duty, lie is connected with the difi(;rent Masonic organizations and a member of several of the Boston clubs — Algontjuin, IMerchants’, Eastern Yacht, Corinthian Yacht, Boston Press, Bine Tree State, Boston Art Clul) and Exchange Club. He has been President of the New Ivngland Insurance Exchange, President of the Boston Protective Depart- ment. and Chairman of the New England Bureau of United Inspection. EDMUND BKAINERD COWEES ASSISTAXr MANAGER OF rilE KOVAE INSURANCE COMl’ANN' OE EIVERI’OOL AND ’mE I'ENNSVEVANIA EIRE OE FT 1 1 LA D ELRH I A FOR NEW ENGLAND. Was born in New Haven, Connecticut, May 31, 1846, and is descended from an old and prominent English family; on the mother’s side of the Thompsons, of Lenham, England, who were among the earliest settlers and signers of the New Haven Colony. His father, Edmund B. Cowles, was one of the leading citizens of New Plaven, and a comparatively young man when he died in 1856. His son, Edmund, was educated in the public and private schools for which New Haven is so noted, and graduated with the highest honors of his class. After completing his education he began his business career at Bridgeport, Con- necticut, in 1862, as bookdveeper in the leading lumber concern of Eairfield County, at that time, where he remained until 1865. A strong desire to reside in his native city induced him to accept the position of a junior clerk there, and he was subseciuently promoted to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Home Insurance Company, which at that time was one of the leading agency companies of the country. Later, in 1870, he accepted the position of General Agent of one of the Philadelphia companies and for about two years was engaged in the field work. Mr. Cowles’ ability and honorable methods were so well known that in PYbruary, [872, when the Meriden Eire Insurance Company was organized by the citizens of Meriden, Connecticut, he was tendered the secretaryship. That position he accepted and he took charge of the company, which transacted a general agency business through- out the United States. Under his management the business was conducted in a most able manner, and the company enjoyed a prosperous career, always returning good divi- dends to its stockholders. It was with many regrets of its agents that Mr. Cowles, in January, 1892, recommended the Directors, in view of the (juestionable outlook at that time for small companies, to reinsure the outstanding risks of the company and retire from business, which recommendation they adopted, and the capital and surplus, equal - in" one-half that amount, remained for division among the stockholders as an evidence of good management. On the ist of July, 1892, Mr. Cowles accepted the position of Assistant Manager of the Royal Insurance Company at Boston, and he is now engaged most activel}’ in the duties of that ]H)sition. He is one of the popular and reliable insurance men of the East, and is possessed of great force of character, tenacity of purpose and unswerving integrity. During his residence in Meriden he was for some time in the city govern- ment, Chairman of the Board of Eire Commissioners, also a Director in the leading THE UNDERWRITER. : 5 1 2 National Bank and other stock companies, which positions he still retains. He has always given a conscientious siprport to all measures conducive to the permanent welfare of his fellow-citizens, and is justly entitled to the success that has fallen to his lot. He is active, vigorous and enterprising, and by his many estimable cjualities has drawn around him many warm friends. Mr. Cowles is a worthy member of the Ancient and Honor- able Artillery of Boston, whose organization dates back over a hundred years, and he is also an active member of the Algonquin and Exchange clubs of that city. ROLLA VERNON WATT MANAGER OF THE ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF LIVERPOOL AND QUEEN INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA FOR THE PACIFIC COAST. The life of Rolla Wrnon Watt, Manager of the Royal Insurance Company of Eiverpool and Queen Insurance Company of America, is in some respects a verv interesting one. It is a life which exemplifies all those cjualities which form the character of the self-made man, and, as such, it conveys its own lesson to everyone who may read it, and this article will commend itself to all as an honest, if imperfect, attempt, to tell something of the career of one who, under all circumstances, has striven conscientiously to do his whole duty, and in so doing has reached a high degree of success. Born in Camden, Prelile County, Ohio, Eebruary 19, 1857, he passed his youth in attending the public schools of Eaton, in the same county, working during vacation seasons. His father, James Alexander Watt, was a harness maker by trade, but by }irofession and practice a school teacher, being Principal of the schools of Camden, Ohio, at the time of his death in 1862. Young Watt was but five years old when his father died, and grew to manhood under the Christian influence of his mother, a noble woman. Stirring and ambitious, he did not wait for success to come to him, but when but a small boy branched out for himself in several small business enterprises, including a newspaper route of the Cincinnati Gazette and Commercial, then separate papers, thus contributing to the support of the family. In 1873, the family removed to Ihoche, Nevada, then a flourishing mining camp, where Rolla obtained employment as a drug clerk. About three years later he abandoned the mortar and pestle and moved with the family to California, arriving in San Erancisco m April, 1876. In that city Mr. Watt was engaged in the book and stationery business until July, 1882, when he left a position where he was receiving $80 a month salary to accept $50 a month in the insurance business with Smith & Snow, at that time representing the “American Central,” “Amazon,” “Metropole” and “Manhattan” insurance companies. In the live years following, several changes took place in the companies represented by the firm, and in 1887 Mr. WMtt succeeded to the General Agenc}’, the companies then being the “x\merican Central,” “Amazon" and “Pacific." T'he “Liberty” entered the agency in the fall of 1887. but reinsured in 1891, the Delaware of Philadelphia taking its place in the office. During five years the general agency business in his office doubled, with a loss ratio considerably below the average of all conqianies doing liusiness on the coast. In iMarch, 1894. Mhitt was appointed M anager of the Pacific Dejiartment of the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool and 814 THE UNDER W RITE R. the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society of Norwich, England. The Royal desiring to concentrate its interests on the Coast, Mr. Watt relincjuished the management of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society on December 31, 1895, assumed the management of the Queen Insurance Company of America jointly with that of the Royal, for the Pacific Coast States and Territories, thus making the strongest combi- nation, insurance-wise, operating on the Coast. Mr. Watt has been more or less interested in public, benevolent and religious enterprises, including the general relief movement of the winter of 1893 1894: the Young Men’s Christian Association, of which he is Vice-President: the Christian Endeavor movement, with which he has been offcially connected; the University of the Pacific, of which he is trustee, and Central Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is also a trustee and Superintendent of its Sunday School. lie has been a member of the Methodist Church since early boyhood, hlis political affiliations are Republican. In the year 1883 Mr. Watt was married to Miss Jessie Shirlaw Mackay, a native of New York City. Mr. Watt has served as member of the Executive Committee of the Pacific Insurance Union; Ih'esident of the Fire Underwriters’ Association of the Pacific, and officially with insurance organizations. THE ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE. 'Phis old and solid company was incorporated by Royal Charter in the year 1720, but the two corporations which finally united under a new name, and subsequently, as the Royal Exchange Assurance, petitioned for a Royal Charter, began as far back as 1564, when letters-patent were granted to the Mines Royal Company. PMur years later this corporation and the Society of Mineral and Battery Works were duly chartered. In 1714 these corporations amalgamated under the title Mines Royal, Mineral and Battery Works. The amalgamated corporation began the writing of marine risks, and aroused the jiowerful opposition of the numerous individual marine underwriters by petitioning for a Royal Charter in 1716. The same year the Mercer's Plall Marine Society also peti- tioned for a charter. It was doubtful whether more than one petitioner could obtain a charter, and the two petitioners united as one corporation, under the name of the Ro)'al Exchange Assurance. In June, 1720, the Royal Exchange was granted its first charter for the transaction of a marine business, and in the following year a supple- mental charter was granted, authorizing the company to carry on both a fire and life insurance business, and to raise, in addition to the original $7,500,000 capital stock, $2,500,000 separate capital. The charter was granted under an Act of IMrliament in the sixth year of the “Reign” of George I entitled “An act for better securing of certain powers and privi- leges,” to be granted under two charters to two companies, and for restraining gambling insurances, for which the times were noted. These charters, one tt) the Roval Exchange, granted a monopoly of the marine businesxs as against all other companies, but did not restrict the rights of individual underwriters. Eor this monopoly the Royal Exchange covenanted to pay in installments $1,500,000 to his Majesty, for the discharge of “the debts and expenses of our civil government.” Altogether $750,000 of the covenanted $1,500,000 was paid for the Royal Charter, but the company had invested so heavily in South Sea stock that, on the bursting of that famous bubble, three months after the charter was received, it was found impossible to meet the further obligations to the government. By an Act of Parliament the com- pany was released from further payment, for, as two members of the house remarked, “the government has scpieezed out of the company as much as they could in con- science expect.” The annual statement of this company for 1895 shows the possession of over $22,000,000 well invested assets. One-half of this is invested in first-class stocks and bonds, and over nine .million is in loans secured Iiy pledge of similar securities. The total liabilities deducted from the assets leave a policy-holders’ surplus of about sio, - 000,000, and a net surplus over capital and liabilities of about $6,000,000. On May 20, 1891, the Royal Exchange entered the United States, establishing a branch in this country, appointing as Trustees Rbsewell Graves Rolston and Charles Eerdinand Hoff man, of New York, and as Manager, Robert Dickson, of San Erancisco. In the same year a deposit of $200,000 was made with Insurance Department of IMassa- chusetts and a deposit of $50,000 with the State Treasurer of Oregon. The Royal Exchange is very conservative — ambitious for c|uality rather than volume of business, and is slowly extending its operations throughout this country. ;u5 ROBERT DICKSON GENERAL MANAGER FOR 'HIE UNITED STATES OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE. Scotland has supplied the United States the material out of which many of her useful and jiromiucnt men have been developed. The sturdy characteristics which have made the people of that country so noted, and which have brought them to the front so rapidly, are distinctly traced in the career of Robert Dickson, General Manager for the United States of the Royal Exchange Assurance. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, June lo, 1845, and was educated in the h'rce Church Grammar School of Campbelton, that country. When but fourteen years old he laid aside his books, and subseciuently spent seven years in a banking house and in the merchandising business in Campbelton. A desire to try his fortune in the new world induced him to leave home and friends, and in 1866 he sailed for America. The same year he located in San Erancisco, California, and here began his career in the insurance business, entering the commission and insurance office of Cross & Company, where he remained for eleven years, during hve years of which time he was in charge of the business of the London Assurance, for which Cross & Company were General Agents. In the year 1877 Mr. Dickson became associated with H. B. M. Consul, William Lane Booker, in the management of the Imjierial, Northern and Queen Insurance companies, which were operating jointly on the Coast, and which were reinforced the following year by the addition of the London Assurance. In 1883 he became sole Manager of the four companies, owing to the appointment of Mr. Booker as Consul- General and his removal to New York. Three years later the Imperial withdrew from the association, and the Connecticut of Hartford took its place. In the year 1891 IMr. Dickson resigned the London and Northern and received the appointment of General Manager for the United States of the Royal Exchange xYssurance. Since his residence in San Erancisco Mr. Dickson has identified himself with a number of its important institutions and interests. He is a Director and Trustee of the San Erancisco Theological Seminary, and Director of the Eirst Presbyterian Church of the city. IMr. Dickson’s mental eijuipoise and sound judgment have placed him in an enviable position, a position he discharges the duties of in a most satisfactory manner. Conforming himself to principles of the strictest integrity and the most honorable dealings, he expects the same from those with whom he associates or has business relations. LION FIRE INSURANCE COMIWNY OF LONDON, ENGLxYND. It has been said, and no doubt truly, that “perseverance will conquer all things,” and if tliis (piality is coupled with energy and ambition, success is still more certain. The management of the affairs of the Lion Eire Insurance Company of London, in this country, has been in capable hands and its success has been assured from the start, for its managers are men of push and enterprise. This company, which is limited, was organized in 1879, and began business in the United States in 1880 in connection with the Scottish Union and National under the management of Martin Bennett, who resio-ned the jiresidency of the Connecticut to accept the jiosition, taking with him as .Assistant Manager the Assistant Secretary of the Connecticut, Mr. James II. Brewster. Since that time the management of the Lion Eire has been in their hands. Its Pacific ;nti 'F H E U N D E R W RITE R. :I1S Coast Manager is W. J. Landers. Since its admission it has received in premiums in this country $6,800,165, and has paid in losses $4,207,196. This company has become one of the best known in the United States, is established on a sound financial basis, is just and upright in its dealings with its patrons, and is hedged about by safeguards which have commanded public confidence. THE SCOTTISH UNION AND NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OE EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. Of the many strong Scottish insurance companies, the Scottish Union and National of Edinburgh is one of the most prominent and one of the oldest, having been founded in the year 1824. It has made an excellent record in the stability of its management, a record that speaks volumes for that management, and its prosperit}- is aided very materially by the success achieved by its branch office in America. 'The Manager of this substantial organization at the Edinburgh office is A. Duncan, and the Secretary is J. K. Macdonald. It commenced business in the United States in 1880, but only carries on fire insurance here. In Great Britain it also insures lives and grants annuities. Its assets in the United States are $3,323,521; its liabilities, $1,451,024. The premiums received in the Lbiited States up to December 31, 1895, were $10,224,776, and the losses paid were $5,623,534. The United States Trustees are Messrs. Alexander Taylor, New York; Henry C. Robinson and John R. Redfield, Hartford. The American representatives of the company are M. Bennett, Manager; James H. Brewster, Assistant Manager, and W. J. Callingham, Manager Ikicific Coast Department, all able and experienced men in insurance circles. While there are a few older companies, both British and Amer- ican, and while some of them are larger as regards resources, there are none better and stronger than the Scottish Union and National. Its managers in this country have conducted its affairs in a manner to call for general commendation. The West has continuously yielded excellent returns on the business transacted, and the progress made by this company since its advent in this country is battering indeed. MARTIN BENNETT UNITED STATES MANAGER OE THE LION EIRE OE LONDON AND THE SCOTITSII UNION AND NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF EDINIIURGII. It is readily acknowledged by all thinking people the world over that fire has caused more damage to property than almost any other one element. There is hardl}' a large city in the world to-day over which the devastating fire-fiend has not swejM with greater or less loss to pro}-)erty, and to provide against this contingency has been the business of fire insurance, and one that has been popular and met with high approval from its origin. One of the foremost hre underwriters of the present day is Martin Bennett, who was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, and graduated from Brown Univcrsitv, which institution conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts and Ci^■il Emdneer in i860. Soon after graduation he entered the service of the Connecticut 320 THE UNDERWRITER. Fire Insurance Company of Hartford as General Agent, later became Secretary, and in 1872 President, in which capacity he served nine years. In 1878 he became Secretary of the National Board of Underwriters, was for seven years a member of the Executive Committee, and in 1880 was President of the National Board. He was for seven years President of the Hartford Board of Under- writers, an honorary member of the National /Association of Chief Engineers of the United States, and for a number of years active Chairman of the New England Provisional Committee, which comprised L. J. Hendee, President of the Hvtna; Geo. L. Chase. President of the Hartford Fire; Henry Kellogg, President of the Phoenix: Alark Howard, I’resident of the National; L). K. Smith, President of the Springfield Fire, and others, all of whom are now dead except President Chase. This committee was an adjunct of the National Board, and had under its supervision and control the making of rates, formation of local boards, etc., in Massachusetts, Connecticut, \Trmont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island. In 1879 Mr. Bennett delivered the annual address before the National /Association of Fire Engineers, in 1881 the decennial address before the Fire Underwriters' Association of the South, and in 1884 the fifteenth annual address before the Underwriters of the Northwest at Chicago. He is a Director of the National Exchange Bank of Hartford and of the Eirst National Bank of Bristol, Rhode Island; and is a member of Washington Commandery of Knights Templar. He received the appointment of Resident Alanager of the two foreign companies mentioned above, for the United States and Canada, in October, 1880, and the success of these companies under his management is well known to under- writers. When these companies commenced business in Hartford, neither had ever written a policy in this country. January i, 1881, the United States assets of the Lion were $375,754- premium receipts for the year 1881, $375,785: total income, $392,825. To-day, having remitted to the head office the sum of $318,007, the Lion shows assets of $866,723, with an annual income of $566,668. The assets of the Scottish January I, 1881, were $487, 46 1 ; surplus $454,567; total income for 1881, $450,105. After remit- ting to the head office $204,346, the Scottish shows cash assets $3,401,787, with a net surplus of $1,934,692, with a gross annual income of over three millions. Mr. P>ennett is a man of pronounced views and positive likes and dislikes, and, like all positive characters, has a habit of being one thing or the other and not both. He comes of Puritan and fighting stock, for his ancestors came to this country on the good ship “Mayflower” and his paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier at the age of seventeen. His great-grandfather wxas Master in the United States Navy during a large part of his life, served on the “Constitution” and “Hornet” during the War of 1812, and took the latter ship through the entire British fleet. He is seventh in line of direct descent from Colonel Benjamin Church, the noted Indian fighter, whose father, Richard Church, married a daughter of Richard Warren, who also came to this country on the “Mayflower.” To the success of the Scottish Union and National and the Lion he has devoted his whole attention and best efforts and the natural sequence has been ])ronounced success. I JAMIES H. l^RKWSTER y\SSISl'AXT UXITKI) STATKS MAXACIKR OF TIIF. FIOX FIKK OF I.OXKOX AXI) THF SCOTTISH rXIOX AXI) XATIOXAl, INSL'RAXCE COMPAXV OF K I ) IXB URC.I I . Few men engaged in the lire insurance business have a higher standing for character, ability and enterprise than the one represented by the name that heads this sketch. For nearly thirty years James M. Brewster, Assistant United States Manager of the Lion Fire fnsurance Company of London and the Scottish Union and National Insurance Company of Fdinburgh, has been actively engaged in this branch of human endeavor and the record he has made in that capacity is an enviable one, showing what pluck, jierseverance and sound judgment will accomplish. He is a man of unusual business acumen, untiring energy and unswerving integrity. Mr. R. rewster is one of the native sons of Connecticut — and was born in Coventry, December 24, 1845. Having secured a thorough education he removed to Hartford in 1865 and engaged cjuite actively in merchandising, which he continued until the 25th of February, 1867, when he entered the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company's office. Since that time his life has been given almost entirely to the hre insurance business. On the ist of July, 1874, he was ajipointed Assistant Secretary of the Connecticut Fire and discharged the duties of that position in a very able and satisfactory manner until November 1, 1880, when he resigned that ■ position to accept the one he now fills. Socially Mr. Brewster is a member of the Masonic fraternity, but belongs to no other secret organization. His religious training was on the line of Congregational orthodoxy, and the views so deeply instilled remain. In politics he has always been connected with the Republican jiarty. Mr. Brewster was married in 1879, and his family consists of his wife and one child, a son. His travels have been chiefly limited to the United States and Canada, every part of which he has frequently visited in connection with the business of the companies. THF UNION ASSURANCF SOCIETY OF LONDON. The Union Assurance Society of London, England, was established in the reign of Oueen Anne, i\. 1 )., 1714, and is consecjuently the third oldest fire insurance comjxiny in the world. It stands deservedly high both at home and abroad, alike because of its financial solidity and its integrity of management. Its broad views as to all commercial cjiiestions, its liberal dealings with those who have business rela- tions with it, together with its fair adjustments and jirompt payment of losses, have made it what is known in business as “a very popular company” — strong, liberal and prompt. It has a record of nearly two centuries to which it is able to point with gratification and pride. d'his Society was originally a fire insurance office, but at the close of its first cen- turv it established a life department, and has since conducted both. It was first known as the “llnion, or Double 1 land-in-lland I'ire Office,” and was formed as a comjianion company to the “Hand-in-I land” still in existence, the only difference between them beiiH’’ that the “Union” insured goods and merchandise b}' mutual contributions of its members, whereas the “ I land-in-I land ” insured buildings only. .Vt that time the “Union’s” business was confined to within twent}' miles of London and Westminster. r TIE U N D E R W RITE R. :i:»4 and a force of firemen with engines were employed to protect burning property insured in the “Society.” In icSos, A. 1 )., a reorganization was efiected, and no longer acting in conjunction with the “ Iland-in-Iland, ” the “Union’s" members created a subscribed capital of 300,000 pounds, of which 30,000 pounds was called up, since which time no call has been made upon the shareholders, but a suljsequent increase of paid-up capital to 180,- 000 pounds \vas provided out of the profits. From its ince}Rion the “Union” has been known as one of the strongest, most reliable and most liberal of the great foreign com- ]xinies, and the continued success it has met is due to conservative principles and business-like methods. Unlike many of its comj^etitors, it is a company which, after carefulh' considering its policy, establishes itself by adherence to its principles, and it has always been known as a company which does not suddenlv deviate from its course or alter its policy when it has once determined upon a plan of action. In May, 1889, the Union began business in the Pacihc Coast States, and in Feb- ruaiy, 1891, was admitted to New York. The United States Managers are iMessrs. Ilenry II. Hall, William H. Ilenshaw and Edward K. Beddall, and the head office in this country is in New York City, 54 William Street. The W’estern Department, under the management of Messrs, (foodwin, Hall & Ilenshaw, is at No. 171 LaSalle Street, Chicago. Mr. Warren F. Goodwin, formerly Western Manager of the Northern, has charge of this held. The Actuary or Life Manager of this company is William Wallis; its Fire Man- ager, William George Wilkins; Secretary, Charles Darrell. The paid-up capital is 5900,- 000, and its United States assets show $ i , 1 73,04 1 . 75, with a surplus over all liabilities of $522,675.77, which is invested in the choicest securities. The Ihiited States Trustees are; Messrs. Whlliam 11 . Wallace, Joseph A. Minott and Treadwell Cleveland, in whose hands are held assets amounting to $575, 7(58. 50, to be applied only to the discharge of its obligations. HALL A HFNSHAW, NEW YORK. Th.e agency of Hall A Ilenshaw, in New h’ork, was established September 1, 1889. The members of the firm consist of Mr. Henry II. Hall, who has been engaged in fire insurance business since l)oyhood. He commenced business in the insurance agency of j. F. Dobson in Boston in i86r. In 1868 was made Secretary of the National b'ire Insurance Company of New York; in 1882 was made iManager of the Northern Assurance Company of London. Mr. Ilenshaw has also been engaged in the fire insurance Imsiness since Ijoyhood, being successive!}^ connected with the Long Island Insurance Company, the London and Lancashire Insurance Cc^mpany, and the Northern Assurance C'ompany of London. As local agents the al)ove firm represent the following companies in the City of New' ^h)rk•: WT'stchester of New' \'ork; Traoisatlantic of Germany; Equitable of Providence; Merchants’ of Pro\'idence; .Manchester of England; .\merican of Boston; Mercantile of Boston; .Atlanta Home of Atlanta; Delaware of Philadelphia; .Atlas Assurance Compau}' of London; German-.American Insurance; Company of Baltimore. d'hev also ha\e in c--nnection with their local agenev a strong combination of English and European com[vinies for the transaction of licensed brokerage business. J / / < V. /» ^ 82(5 THE UNDERWRITER. Associated with Messrs. Hall tV Ilenshaw as Managers ot the Union Assurance Society is Mr. Edward K. Heddall, who has been connected with the fire insurance l)usiness since boyhood, having been connected successively with the Liverpool and I.ondon and Globe Insurance Company and the Insurance Company of North America. In addition to being local agents of a large number of fire insurance companies, and United States IManagers of the Union Assurance Society of London, the \hctoria Lire Insurance Company of the City of New York is managed by this firm. Mr. Hall is President of the company, Mr. Ilenshaw \hce-President and Mr. Beddall, Secretary. Messrs. Hall & Ilenshaw, in connection with their large local and general agency interests, also transact a large business in South and Central America, and altogether the aggregation of capital represented by this hrm in the City of New York and the amount of insurance carried by them on a single risk are probably greater than that represented by any agency in the United States. GOODWIN, HALL & HENSHAW^ CHICAGO. The hrm of Goodwin, Hall A Ilenshaw, consisting of Warren L. Goodwin, of Chicago, and Messrs. Hall & Ilenshaw, of New York, was established in Chicago on May I, I Spy. Mr. Goodwin entered the New York office of the London Assurance Corporation in Lebruary, 1873, and remained with that company as clerk and Special Agent until October, 1882, when he was appointed Chief Clerk of the Agency Depart- ment of the New York office of the Northern Assurance Company. On January i, 1887, he was made Manager of the Central Department of the Northern Assurance Company, with offices at Cincinnati, Ohio. On July i, 1893, the Central and North- western departments of the Northern Assurance Company were consolidated into one Western Department, with offices at Chicago, and Mr. Goodwin was made joint Manager with Mr. W. D. Crooke. This position Mr. Goodwin held until his resigna- tion to form the above-named hrm. Probably the best way to describe the extensive business of the hrm of Goodwin, Hall and Ilenshaw is by departments, as the business is conducted as follows: Genf.rai. Ac.kxcv Dkp.vrtmkxt. — The hrm are Managers of the MTstern depart- ments of the Union Assurance Society of London and the \hctoria Lire Insurance Company of New York, and are also WTstern General Agents of the \hrginia Lire and Marine Insurance Company of Richmond, Virginia, and the Citizens’ Insurance Com- pany of New h ork. CincAcR) Local DF.i>AR'r.\iKXT. — As Local Agents, the hrm represent the Union Assurance Society of London; the Grand Rapids Lire Insurance Company of Grand Rajiids; the \hrginia I'ire and Marine Insurance Company of Richmond; the Commer- cial Insurance Company of Cincinnati; the Commercial Ibiion Assurance Company of London; the Norwood Insurance Company of New York, and the Victoria Lire Insurance Company of New h'ork, having for all of their companies, except the Commer- cial Union, entire jurisdiction over all Cook County business. Hrokfraof Dfpar'i'.mfxi’. — b'or the handling of large lines of insurance on risks anywhere in the West the hrm have exceptional facilities. In addition to all of the ordinary brokerage arrangements, the hrm act as correspondents for a number of hrst- class stock companies doing no agency business, and have all of the advantages of the foreign connections of Messrs. Hall A Ilenshaw of New York. t I* IRE ANT) A1 A R I N E. >52U HuRdi.ARV IxsLRAXCK Dki’ar T.MKXT. — This line of insurance, new to the United States, has been introduced in the W'est by the firm, who represent as Western (ireneral Agents the New England Burglary Insurance Company of Boston, Mass. This form of indemnity and protection apj')ears to have caught the favor of the j^ublic at once, and a large business is being rapidly built uj:) by the firm. To sum the whole up, the firm of Goodwin, Hall & Henshaw j)ride themselves upon being able to handle any legitimate line of insurance, however large, and wherever located in the West, and undoubtedly have the most exceptional facilities for doing so. MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAE EIRE INSURANCE UNION. 'I'his organization is composed of the mutual fire insurance comjianies chartered in this State and doing a general business in New Itngland. There are in Massachusetts filty-two regular mutual fire insurance companies doing business; of these, eight are mill mutuals, transacting a business almost exclusively among themselves, and insuring nothing but mill property and such as would come under their specially protected risks. There are ten conp'tanies, with small suigdus, formed and carried on in small towns simply to protect the in'opert}’ in those localities and towns in their vicinity, d'he others, thirty-two in number, compose the alutual b'ire Insurance Union, and are active in its support. The great Boston fire of i(S72 affected all insurance companies, the mutual companies as well as stock companies losing heavily. This caused two of the mutual companies to wind up (paying 83 j'ler cent) and three to make an assessment in order to continue business and pay their losses in full; at the same time several stock companies had to wind up, only jiaying from 25 to 40 per cent of their losses. In the spring of 1879 the managers of two or three of the comjianies conceived the idea of forming an organization that should bring together all the mutual comjianies for the purposes, as stated in the preamble, “Of considering all matters affecting mutual companies and adopting such measures as will work for the benefit of that system of insurance. “Eor social and fraternal purposes, to the end that peace, harmony and good fellowship may hereafter reign.” Messrs. E. M. Tucke of the Traders’ and Mechanics’, Charles z\. Howland of the Ouincy Mutual, and Alfred E. Ifarbour of the Cambridge Mutual, met and issued a circular inviting all the mutual companies to send representatives to a conference to be held at Boston in July, 1879. This conference was attended by the representatives of sixteen companies. I'ifteen of the companies signed the agreement to form such an organization; and at a meeting- held September 10. 1879, a constitution and by-laws were adoiited, and the Massachu- setts Mutual I'ire Insurance llnion was launched forth with the followiim- officers; E. B. O Stoddard of the Merchants' and b'armers' of Worcester, as President; Charles B. Cum- mings of the Massachusetts Mutual and George B. Eaunce of the Dedham Mutual, as \'ice- Presidents, and Alfred E. Barbour of the Cambridge Mutual, as Secretarx' and Treasurer. Meetings were to be held cjuarterly or at the call of the President. Successive meetings proved so profitable and enjoyable that it was onlv a few years before all the mutuals doing a large business, except the mill mutuals (who had 8:50 T Pi E U N D E R W R I T E R. an organization of their own), were enrolled as members and takdng active participation in its work, all personal feeling and enmity among the mutual companies began to melt as dew before the sun, and the kindly spirit prevailed. Kates began to be made, agreements entered into, and a more systematic method of doing business adopted, which not only commended itself to the directors but to the policy-holders of the companies. The social features of the Union have been a large factor in bringing about good feeling and coifperative action. At all the meetings a bancjuet is served, and many are the plans that are made there. About ten years ago, the Secretary, with the advice of the biixecutive Committee, inaugurated what is known as the “Autumnal Outing of the Union,” or “ Ladies’ Day, " occurring once a year. The Secretary also arranges for an excursion, usually in Sep- tember, generally by rail, to some pleasure resort which shall not take more than two or three days, at which the members invite their directors, friends, and their ladies to accompan)' them. On several of these occasions managers of the stock companies and members of the New England Insurance Exchange have accepted invitations to accom- pany us, and its effect has been to draw us nearer to each other and to do away with the enmity that previously existed. The growth and increase of the business of the Union during the period of its existence is shown by the following figures. In 1879 the thirty companies composing the Union had; At risk. Assets, - - - - Liabilities (re-insurance fund). Income, _ - _ - Premiums received annually, about Dividends paid. Losses paid. 1879 $ 181,029,381 4.5310863 -M 43. 053 1,257, 167 1,014, 126 468, I 56 384,885 1896 $46 1 , 268,000 7, 164,250 3,765, 180 4, 3 56,000 3.560,370 2, 250,000 950,000 Amon” some of the measures which the Pinion has been instrumental in brin^incr about has been the adoption of a “standard policy,” causing valued policy law in Massachusetts to be deferred, creating the State P^ire Marshal and ferreting out several incendiaries. A few years ago it appearing that fires were becoming more frequent, either from carelessness or design or from unfavorable circumstances, the question was discussed as to what could be done to prevent such heavy losses as had been occurring. As it was jilainly seen a good many agents did not inspect the risks or clearly represent the hazard in or around the risks they were offering the companies, it was evident that the companies, for sell-protection, must have more frequent inspection. Some years ago ten of the largest mutuals inaugurated a system of cobperative inspection. They secured the services of Mr. Robert A. Barbour, son of the Secretary of the Pbiion, and set him at work taking the cities and large towns, and making a thorough inspection of the risks in those places, for the companies which had united together for the work. It proved to be an exceedingly wise measure, for it was found that in the rear yards or areas of many large mercantile buildings heaps of rubbish, straw, old jiaper, etc., were allowed to accumulate, making a dangerous element for the promotion of fires in congested districts. Owners and tenants were notified that their premises must be FIRE AND MARINE. cleaned and the dangerous elements removed, or the policies would be canceled. Most of these objectionable features were removed, yet in some cases obstinate insurers and offended agents prevented the eliminating of these hazards. This insjoection has proved so good, and by cooperation so economical, that the number of companies in the deal has increased fom ten to eighteen. A large room has been secured for the weekdy gatherings of the Union on the top floor of the Codman building, 27 Kilby street, Boston, and business is there transacted every Saturday. Agents and managers meet, risks are bound, and large lines on buildings are taken and distributed to the various companies by Secretary Barbour. The Union, during its fifteen years of existence, has had but four Presidents and but one Secretary. Hon. E. B. Stoddard, of Worcester, was the first President, and served the Union faithfully for nine years. Col. T. II. Johnson, the second President of the Union, was reelected for three consecutive terms. The third President, Charles A. Howland, also gave three years’ ser\ice to the Union. The fourth and present President is Roger F. Upham, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Worcester Mutual, one of the largest companies of the Union. Mr. Alfred L. Barbour, the present Sec- retary and Treasurer, has held the office and performed the duties since the inception of the Union. The Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Union is supposed to be the oldest organization of mutual fire insurance companies in the United States. Several have been formed since then, and have received valuable aid and cooperation from the parent organization. The Union has accomplished so much good that its jierpetuation is an assured fact. The companies composing the Union are the Abington, the Barnstable County, the Berkshire, the Cambridge, the Citizens’, the Dedham, the Dorchester, the Fitchburg, the bfi-anklin, the Hampshire, the Hingham, the Holyoke, the Fowell, the Fynn, the Massachusetts, the Merchants’ and Farmers’, the Merrimac, the Middlesex, the Mutual Protection, the Norfolk, the Quincy, the Traders’ and Mechanics’, the W’achusett, and the Worcester. The Attleborough, Bristol County, Mutual Fire Assurance, Saugus and the South Danvers belong to the Union, but do principally a local business. THE CAMBRIDGE MUTUAF FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. Insurance companies always take a prominent place as institutions beneficent, practical and indispensable to the present state of civilization. The Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company is one of the oldest of its kind in New England and one of the most substantial. It was organized in 1833 by the people for mutual protection when there was but little opportunity for indemnity against loss by fire. A few promi- nent men of Cambridge formed an association and agreed to protect and indemnify each other in case of loss by fire. The first means they took for their protection was to form themselves into a bucket brigade and be present at every fire, to aid in its extin- guishment, take care of the personal property, and thereafter to pay whatever loss was sustained. It was originally intended only as a local company, but the beneficial results were so apparent that its extension was called for in other places and it began to increase its usefulness. During a period of three years, from 1841 to 1844, so extensive were the confla- THE UNDERWRITE R. grations that it had hard work to survive, l)ut the directors, by personal indorsements of tlie company's notes, carried the association on and over the emergency to success, until now it stands high in the conhdence of the jniblic, and has a reserve fund of nearly a (juarter of a million dollars. It has paid nearly twenty millions in losses, over hve millions in dividends to its policy-holders, and owns the hne stone building it occupies, Itesides having a large surplus. ALFRED L. BARBOl’R StX'RE'l'ARV AND TREASURER OF THE CAMBRIDGE MUTUAE EIRE IXSURANXE COMPANV OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSAC II USETl'S. The force of well-directed energy, steadfast jnirpose and never-ceasing effort is strikingly illustrated in the life of Alfred L. Barliour, who holds the responsible position, of Secretary and Treasurer of the Cambridge Mutual Fire, and M'ho has been its managing head for nearly a quarter of a century. In 1872, when he first took charge of the companv it was a small local organization with only about $50,000 assets and about $35,000 liabili- ties, having just passed through the disastrous Boston fire. By most able management the companv soon grew in \vealth and influence, until it now has nearly $250,000 assets, and one of the finest insurance buildings for a home office outside of Boston. Mr. Barbour is a native of Cambridge, born in sight of the splendid office he now occupies, in April, 1837. The first ten years of his life was a constant struggle against ill health, a fraiLconstitution having been his portion, but the ceaseless care and devotion of his mother brought him through, and at the age of fifteen he had passed through the schools and entered the high school. A year and a half later ill health obliged him to give up study and seek restoration on a farm. change of climate was recommended in 1865 and he went to Illinois, where he remained with his family for nearly four years. Soon after the close of the first year in the West, the store where he was employed was burned and the business suffered so greatly that he gave up and turned his attention to the insurance business as agent for several companies and an adjuster of losses, h'ollowing this Mr. Barbour engaged in business at Peoria, Illinois, but after about six months his partner defaulted, ran off with the funds, and he was left without means. Not at all discouraged, Mr. Barbour went to Pekin, that State, and took charge of a large clothing and boot and shoe store, owned by Reuben Bergstresser, where he remained until i86g, when he was induced to return East to enter the United States revenue service. lie was United States Assessor for Cambridge and afterward Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue, wdiich offices he held until 1872, when he was persuaded to take the secretaryship of the Cambridge iMutual P'ire Insurance Company, with which he has remained (although urged to take similar positions with two larger companies) up to the ]iresent time. In the year 1879 Mr. Barbour began to realize the difficulties under which the mutual companies of Massachusetts labored, and, being antagonized by the stock conqianies, conceived the idea of forming an insurance union of the mutuals that should meet and resist the attacks of the stock companies. In the s})i‘ing of that year a few of the managers of the mutual conqianies were called together, and, seeing its importance, organized the Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Union. Mr. Barbour was made its Secretary, a position he has held ever T H F. UNDERWRITE R. :U4 since. Although busy with the afiairs of the Cambridge iMutual, Mr. Barbour has time for other interests. He is President of the Columbian Cobperative Bank, Trustee of the West Newton Savings B>ank, Director in the First National Bank of West Newton and President of the Northern Mutual Relief Association. He is a prominent member of the Baptist Church, is its Clerk and Chairman of its Finance Committee, and also holds many important positions in the Baptist denomination of the State. HON. AMASA NORCROSS PRESIDENT EPrCIIBURG EIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. More than three-score years and ten have passed over the head of this most worthy citizen, leaving their impress in the w'hitened hair and lined face, but while the outward garments of the soul show the wear and tear of years, the man himself is richer and nobler and grander for the experience that each successive decade has brought him. In almost every city and important town in the Plnited States the sons of New Hamp- shire are found among the foremost in every profession and avocation. In the thriving young city of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, there is found no exception to the rule. Among New Hampshire men living and laboring there, Hon. Amasa Norcross takes a prominent place. He was born in Rindge, January 26, 1824, and is a descendant of Jeremiah Norcross, who came to America in 1642. His father, Daniel Norcross, was a thriving New Hampshire farmer, and his mother, Mary (Jones) Norcross, was also a native of that State. Amasa Norcross received excellent educational advantages in the schools of his native town, and at the Appleton Academy of New Ipswich. In 1844 he became a student in the law office of Torrey A AVood, of F'itchburg, and in 1847 he was admitted to the bar. Later he took up his residence in I'itchburg, entered actively in the practice of law, and continued this until he now stands at the head of the legal fraternity in his section of the State. Mr. Norcross has been unusually jirominent in political affairs, having held responsilile positions for nearly a quarter of a century. Three times was he elected on the Republican ticket as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and served on important committees during the administration of Massachusetts’ “War Governor,” John A. Andrews. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln I’nited States Assessor for the 9th District of Massachusetts, comprising seventy-two town- shijis, and held the office until its abolishment, in 1872. For three times, also, he was elected to Congress, serving his hrst term in 1876. Local matters have always interested him, and in 1873 he had the honor of being the hrst Mayor of I'itchburg. In the administration of the affairs of the city his rare execu- tive abilit}' was strongly manifested. hTlucational advancement is what he had sought to gain and well has he hdiored in the good cause. He took a very active part in the formation of the h'itchburg Ifenevolent Fnion, of which he was the first President and of which he is now a life member. I'he degree ot Master ot Arts was conferred upon Mr. Norcross by Dartmouth College in 1862. Of the several offices now held by Mr. Norcross, the most important are the following; Trustee of Lawrence Acadenn’, Groton: President of the Trustees of Cush- ing .\cadem\-, Ashburnham ; of the Fitchburg Mutual b'ire Insurance Company and the T I I E U X I ) E R W R I T E R. Worcester North Savings Institution ; also Director of the Kollstone National Hank, h'or the past ten years most of his time has been spent in extensive travel abroad. ■Vlthough he has led a verv active life, he is still vigorous and a hne soecimen of well- jweserved manhood. WORCKSTEK MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. The Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company has had nearly three-fourths of a century of deserved and uninterrupted prosj^erity, and is a tower of strength and stability in the insurance circles of New England. This reliable and ably managed company was incorporated February ii, 1823. and commenced business May i, 1824. Since that time its career has been an unbroken record of progress. The affairs of the company have always been conducted on sound and conservative, albeit liberal and orogressive principles, while its management has been characterized by sagacity, energy and ability. This company antedates any incorporated mutual insurance company now doinf>^ business in the State of Massachusetts. Its first President was Levi Lincoln, then Rejoice Newton, afterward P'rederick William Paine, who was succeeded by Anthony Chase, who in turn was succeeded by Ebenezer Torrey. In 1888 President Torrey was succeeded by John A. P'ayerweather, who has hlled the position from that time up to the present with honor and credit to himself and the company. The company has l)een faithfully served lyv the following Secretaries; Henry K. Newcomb, William 1 ). Wheeler, Isaac Goodwin, Anthony Chase and Charles M. Miles, the latter being succeeded, after a long series of ye^irs, by Roger P'. Upham, who is the jn'esent incumbent. The records of the company show the policies issued consecutively from policy No. i, in serial order up to 210,000, and the cash assets have grown from the hrst premium to about $700,000 of carefully invested assets. It has returned to its policy-holders dividends as high as ninety-six per cent, which returns are probably as lar"e, if not larger, than ever made by any other mutual company in this country doing a general mutual business, dhe officers of this prosperous company at the present time are: j. A. Eayenveather, President: R. F. l^'pham. Secretary and Treas- urer, and E. lb Kendall, Assistant Secretary. Its present Ifoard of Directors is composed of the following named gentlemen; j. A. P'ayerweather, Lewis N. Gilbert, Stephen Sawyer, Benjamin Dwinnell, H. C. Greeley, R. P'. Upham, Lyman A. Ely, II. T. Wdiitin and Caleb Colvin, all of whom are solid citizens and prominent business men, standing high in the community alike in hnancial and commercial circles and in private life. r()Gp:r freeman upham SKCREIAKV .\XI) IRK.^SURF.R WORCESTER FIRE IXSUR.\XCE COMIWXV. Rocker P'reeman I'pham, the efficient Secretarv and Treasurer of the Worcester Mutual P'ire Insurance Company, was born September 13, 1848, to the marriage of h'reemin and Pilizabeth (Eivermore) Upham. On the paternal side he is descended from John Upham, who was born in Pingiand but who came to this country with the “Hull " Colonv in March, 1635. settling in W'eymouth, Massachusetts. On the maternal side he traces his ancestry back to Oliver W atson, one of the Revolutionary jiatriots 838 THE UNDERWRITER. who, in 1775, met in convention at Watertown, delegates from the towns of Spencer and Leicester, while the British held the town of Boston. Freeman Upham, father of subject, was a noted carpenter and builder, whose services were not only sought in Worcester but elsewhere in ^Massachusetts, and in the Empire State. Roger F. Uidiam attended the public schools of Worcester and graduated from the high school i\Iay 3, 1866, with the honor of salutatorian in the English depart- ment. Following this he studied the languages under ju'ivate tutors. Soon after grad- uating he became a clerk in the People’s Fire Insurance Company of Worcester, which company did an extensive business in the northern and western part of the United States, lie was soon made bookkeeper and within a few )’ears accepted the position of xVssistant Secretary of the company. The great Boston hre of 1872 terminated the career of the People’s Fire, and not long afterward Mr. Upham accepted a position with the Worcester Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company, one of the oldest and strongest mutual fire insurance companies in the Commonwealth. The same year he was elected Assistant Secretary of the company, and on the 4th of May, 1887, he was made Secretary and later also Treasurer, which positions he has held since. The results obtained in this company’s long and successful career have not been brought about l)y chance or good luck, but through the administration of President I'ayerweather and his predecessors, and the able management of the different officers. Only first-class underwriting ability has uniformly been in control of the affairs of the Worcester Mutual, and the result is the achievements of the past and in the Gibralter strength which it possesses at the present time. Mr. Upham, since entering on the duties of his present position, has done much important work and made an excellent record. Ilis untiring energy and unswerving integrity are well known and appreciated. Me has taken great interest in the Massa- chusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Lbiion, an organization composed of the mutual fire insurance companies chartered in Massachusetts and doing generally a business in New Fnudand. After seizing on the executive committee and as \hce-President, he was elected President in September, 1894, and is the present incumbent of that position, being the fourth President of the LTion. For some time Mr. Upham has been Trustee of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, and he is interested in other enterprises of importance. He is connected with many philanthropic organizations and is Secretary of the Home for Aged iMen in the city of W’orcester. He is also Trustee of the Worcester Rural Cemetery. In politics he is an earnest and unswerving Republican, a keen observer of the trend of public events, and a man who takes advanced and intelligent views of social and political reform. In his wife he chose Miss Clara Story, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, and their marriage was celebrated June 16, 1875. To this union has been born one child, a daughter named Edith Story Upham. NAT HTHDICK FREEMAN I’UBLISIIKR AND EDITOR OF “THE RECORD.” The subject of this sketch was born of English parents, at Saugerties, Ulster County, New York, March 25, 1H35, and is therefore in his sixty-second year. The foundation of his education was made in a plain little country schoolhouse, common in those times, where the seats were made of rough slabs procured from a near-by sawmiill. Here he mastered all there was to be learned from the teachers of that age, who came tor a term or two and took a goodly portion of their pay in “boarding round.” A restless spirit prevented him Irom remaining long in schools of a higher grade, and. he sought action in the busy \voiid, entering the largest dry-goods and grocery store in that part of the country. Attempts were made to induce him to study theology, with a view of entering the ministry, but he would have none of it, failing to see how he could teach something that he could in no wise comprehend himself. I’ollowing this he was urged to take up the study of medicine, which he did for several years, but hnally lost faith in the pretended power of doctors to heal the sick. At this time, in what was known as the Far West, \vere heard the first distant mutterings of war. The Kansas riots and the attempts to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law gave him incentives to action. Leaving home, friends and kindred in the Last, he found vent for the pent-up energy so long suppressed, and entered into the spirit of those trying times with all his native ardor and impetuosity. When the first alarm of war was sounded, he hastened eastward, that he might be ready for immediate service should there be a call to arms. What more natural to one who was considered a good rough rider in the West than to select the cavalry service ? Studying the manual until it was mastered, then placing himself under the best teachers that he could find, he soon became proficient in the use of the sabre, and when the time came for action, Connecticut's War Governor, Buckingham, permitted him to assist in the recruiting of the Lirst Battalion of Connecticut Cavalry. His systematic, forceful manner of teaching the new recruits was soon apparent, and the first two comjranies were highly complimented on the excellence and perfectness of their drill. At the front, history states that this regiment was the peer of any body of mounted men in the service. It is well known that Governor ILickingham and Abraham Lincoln were warm friends, and when President Lincoln needed a man for important, special service, Mr. Lreeman was called from the front and accepted the mission. He entered the work with all his usual energy, succeeded in performing his task to the satisfaction of the President, but unfortunately his health gave wa)', and he was compelled to ask for a discharge . Then followed a year or two of recuperation, and he became interested in the business of insurance. In this, as in everything else, he realized that knowledge is power, and closely followed every available avenue of information, soon finding that many of the leaders had much to learn as well as himself. After a close study of field work, he decided to enter the lists of journalism, where he still remains. ;!40 F I R E A N D M A R I N E. That he is a success is but evidenced by his Ion" connection with one of the oldest and most successful insurance journals in America. To all those who are ac(|uainted with the subject of this sketch, it is unnecessary to state that he is a born fighter, and is never quite as happy as when he is dipping his pen in wormwood and gall, and slashing right and left into the ranks of sycophants, hypocrites and wrongdoers generally. His very aggressiveness and hatred of fraud have, perhaps, been the chief causes of his success. He claims that a man should have quite as many enemies as friends, and glories in the thought that a man who has no powerful enemies is a useless creature. To those whom he likes he exhibits another phase of his character. A cjuick symjiathy, tenderness and generosity are as much a jiart of his make-up as are the before mentioned characteristics. Bright, genial, witty, warm-hearted Nat ! Long may you live to enjoy life ! MATTHKW (fKIFFIN PUin.ISHKK OF “'I'HE IXSUR.AN’CK .XOF.” Brobably no man has been a more positive force in insurance journalism, and in financial journalism in New York City, than Alatthew Ciriffin, the subject of this sketch. Born and educated in Michigan, he struggled with life in that State until a larger field tempted his ambition, at the age of 24. During the last eight years spent in his native State, young Griffin was l)y times a farm hand, a clerk, a school teacher, but always a student, and his employments were merely auxiliaries to his main purpose — the securing of an education. As he had been an orphan from an early age, his studies were juirsued, like those of so many Western boys of that jieriod, under the temporary disadvantage of unaided self-effort. i\If. Griffin’s first real business venture was in life insurance, fie went East, in 1866, with Mr. S. M. Loveridge, of Ypsilanti, a great General Agent of that sterling old company, the Mutual Benefit Life of Newark, New Jersey. Later he was appointed General Agent for Ohio and Michigan of the Penn Mutual, of Philadelphia, and after five years of effort he accepted a like position with the United States Life, of New York. Both as a solicitor and manager he was very successful. Developing tastes and aspirations in the direction of journalism, he engaged with \\k T. Tillinghast to assist in conducting the “Index,” now “The Standard,” of P)Oston. In this capacity he traveled much, making many life-long friends, adding largely to the business of the i^aper and showing great abilities as a writer on insurance. In 1875 he purchased “The Insurance Age,” of New York, which had been founded in 1872 by Sidnev S. Norton. In Mr. Griffin’s hands the enterprise was an almost instantaneous success, his originality and ability bringing it up to a high plane, both as to its influence and its profit to himself. In 1881, having become interested in Wall Street matters, he began the publication of “The Daily Stockholder,” a financial newsjmper, which soon became a power in speculative and investment circles. Mr. Griffin still owns both papers, which are widely circulated, prosperous and influential, although the “ Insurance Age ” has been almost wholly under the management of Mr. George W. Hatch since 1887. As before stated, Matthew Griffin, when active in journalism, was always a most living and THE UNDER \V R I T E R. U2 positiv^e force. Like every man of strong character and individuality, he made enemies during his active and varied career — enemies who did not hesitate to vilify him and to attempt to prejudice his friends against him. But many who read this sketch will testify that these enemies had to reckon with a powerful and determined adversary, llis aggressive methods in journalism and his fearlessness in his editorial utterances involved him in many sharp controversies, both in insurance and Wall Street matters. So skillful, able and thorough was his conduct of these controversies that he never at any time failed to vanquish his antagonist. Our space forbids us to name instances, though many will occur to those who read this sketch, and who are familiar with the course of insurance and financial happenings from 1875 to 1893. He never sought personal controversies, but quickly responded to attacks if directed against him by con- temporaries or enemies. He used to announce, “I never strike the first blow, but will always strike the last one.” He was and is a master of controversial writing, a merciless logician, and a most intense and spirited critic of whatever in his judgment demands criticism. He has always been as loyal to his friends as he has been formid- able to his enemies, and this loyalty is attested by the abiding esteem of those whom he was able to serve while active in his chosen profession. Failing health has compelled Mr. Griffin during the past two years to relegate to other hands the direct prosecution of the business of his journals. Worn with the strain of his early battles with the world, and weakened by the drafts upon his nervous force made by years of earnest and often bitter journalistic warfare, he now more leisurely and calmly “watches the battle from afar.” But it is safe to say he is followed by the hope of his many friends that his retirement is only temporary, and that he will soon take up again the work in which he so long demonstrated his natural eminence and his pronounced ability of accom- plish ment. CHAKLES C. HIKE INSURANCE |( )URNAI,TS'r, PUHI.ISIIER AND EDUrOR OE 'I'lIE INSURANCE MCtNEPOR. It is safe to say that no single factor conducted as a private enterprise has done so much to elevate and build up the insurance business of the Lhiited States as the “Insurance Monitor” and other publications devoted to insurance interests which are issued in connection with it, and which reju'esents the lifetime authority and experience of a man of such intellectual force as Mr. Charles C. Hine. Insurance in its various branches is one of the interesting features of modern business life. Conducted upon scientific principles, as it now is, it possesses not only a technical literature of its own. but a journalism which is of as much direct importance to the commercial world as to the professional representative of insurance. The united voice of the latter accord the position of the leading insurance journal of this country to the “Insurance Monitor” of New York, while its editor and proprietor, Mr. Hine, is conceded not only the distinction of conducting a periodical of such high standing, but of having been influential in every development which has raised insurance to its present standing. Mr. 11 ine was born in New Haven, Connecticut, December 21. 1825, but when he had reached the age of six years his parents emigrated to the “ Ear West. ” settling in Monroe Countv, New York, eight miles from Rochester, which was then considered T H E U N J ) E R W RITE R. ■su almost out of the bounds of civilization. In this county young Iline completed his education, graduating from the little brown schoolhouse in Perrinton, at eleven years of age. Me attended school only during the winter months, for when the warm weather came he usually hired himself out as a farm hand at four dollars per month. When he was twelve years old his parents removed to Massillon, Ohio, and for a few years he hlled the position of clerk in a bookstore there, where he managed to read ju'etty nearly every fjook on the shelves. He entered the paintshop of his father’s carriage manufactory as an apprentice when fifteen years old, and here he met an Englishman named Bob Andrews, who had studied art to some extent before coming to this country. From him Mr. Mine received inspiration for higher artistic ambitions than painting a coach body, and as a result he branched out as an artist, following that until about twenty-two years old. .\bout this time the Henry O’Reilly telegraph lines began to penetrate the WAst and he learned telegraphy, subsequently having charge of the offices at New Lisbon, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Peru, Illinois, and Jacksonville, Illinois. Later he had charge of the St. Louis office, and last of all, that at New Albany, Indiana, to which town he had removed for the purpose of going into other business. In 1853 he married Miss iMary II. A\-ery, of WAstport, Connecticut. Subsequently he was cashier of the Merchants' and iMechanics’ Bank, and Principal of the New Albany Female Seminary. However, from early in the fifties he was more or less engaged in insurance, build- ing up a large and prohtable local agency in connection with various other matters in which he was interested. The crash in 1857 carried him down with thousands of others, and the following year he l)ecame Special Agent for the SEtna. In 1865 he was elected Secretary of the International Insurance Company of New York, but in 1868 he bought out the “Monitor” publishing concern, and from that time up to the present has been engaged with the various insurance publications with which his name has been identified. Under Mr. Hine’s management and editorship they have become a power in the world of insurance. Around “The Monitor,” as a nucleus, have grown up the “Insurance Law journal, ” and a large catalogue of insurance books, many of them from Mr. Hine’s own pen. The work of the Underwriters’ Protective Association, of which he is the Presi- dent, is well known for its value and Ireneficence throughout the hre insurance craft. While Mr. Hine has achieved a remarkable success, his reputation as an authority on the history, technicalities and jurisprudence of insurance has steadily risen, and at the acre of over threescore and ten years he is still active in his chosen work. CHAUNCb:V MONROE RANSOM KDITOR .\XI) I’URI.ISIIKR OF 'I'HK “ S'lWNDARD ” OF BOSTON. 'I'he narrative of the principal events in this well-known journalist’s life will be found to exemplif}’ the old saying, that “A man may make of himself what he will." No insurance journalist is more widely known or highly esteemed than Col. C. M. Ransom, editor and publisher of the Standard of Boston. His relations with both comj)anies and agents are j^ersonal and intimate, and they, like his many friends of the })ress, will appreciate the following sketch. THE UNDERWRITER. Colonel Ransom is a product of the Empire State, born in Erie County, and his life has been an unusually active one. His educational advantages were excellent and when he had reached the age of seventeen he taught a winter term of school. Eol- lowing this, he eml)arked in merchandising, and at odd hours solicited hre insurance. In the year 1856 he removed to Chicago, where he was caught in the panic two years later. I'rom there he went to Cincinnati, where he was active and prominent as the Secretary of a hre insurance company from 1858 until 1867, then Adce-President of a life company for one year, after which he engaged rvith a life comjiany of St. Louis. In the month of September, 1871, Colonel Ransom purchased a half interest in the “Baltimore Underwriter,” which interest he sold in IMarch, 1878, and purchased the then “Index,” of Boston. This he changed into “The Standard” in September, 1882, and converted it into a weekly January i, 1883. To the “Standard” since then Colonel Ransom has given his best energies, working early and late, and drawing lib- erally on the till and the telegraph in the interest of news. The result is that “The Standard ” is second to no other insurance newspaper. During all this time, thanks to his popularity and enterprise, the Colonel has been in almost constant demand by the fraternity, identifying himself with every important reform movement in the various branches of underwriting. His service in the cause of life insurance reform, had he done nothing else, would render him eminent. He it was who conceived the idea of organizing the Boston Life Underwriters’ Association, and he who called the meeting that resulted in its organization, at the “Standard’s” editorial rooms early in 1883. At that meeting he outlined the advantages that would come from an association of the kind, predicted the organization of other associations and in the course of a few years the very National Association that followed. Although societies of insurance men had existed before, they were sporadic, local in their scope and ephemeral, but the Boston Life Underwriters’ Association, his con- ception, was the inspiration of the movement which has brought into fraternization the life insurance forces of the entire country. As the pioneer in this grand work, and as the acknowledged godfather of the asso- ciation movement. Colonel Ransom has done a vast deal of work without compensation, traveling hither and thither, organizing new associations, presiding at “first nights,” making addresses, sending telegraphic reports to his own paper, and working well through the night to prepare synopses for the daily press. All his efforts were appre- ciated l)y the life insurance fraternity, as was demonstrated by the recejRion and baiKjuet tendered him by the Boston Association in January, 1891, and demonstrated also from the resolutions of thanks that he has received from nearly every association in the country. Much admiration is expressed for his endeavors and his enterprise, and it would be well for insurance and for insurance journalism if there were more insurance editors and publishers of the caliber of Col. C. M. Ransom, of the “Standard.” In the light of his intelligent, conscientious and successful rvork, the imbeciles and pretenders who )K)se as editors and publishers become all the more worthless by contrast. As the father of the idea of association, his place is secure in the history of American life insurance. He now holds the position of President of the Insurance Journalists’ Asso- ciation ()1 America. J. B. BENNETT. It is no disparagement of Mr. Bennett’s contemporaries to say of him that he was the greatest agt^icy manager of his generation. lie could keep a longer team of agents straighter on the road at a higher rate of speed than any man of his day. It may be retorted that he had a greater opportunity than any other man ever had. Possibly, but he had the wit to perceive his opportunity and the strength and industry to improve it. If he had a clear held and almost no competition, that held was comparatively untried, and headway had to be made along new trails or blazed paths instead of over smooth and familiar roads. Mr. Bennett was a man of imperious will, indomitable industry and unusual fertility of resource. These were the cjualities that made him the manager that he was, but agency management appeared to be the one avenue through which he could use those qualities to the best advantage, for when, after an unwise struggle with the yEtna company, he quit his familiar held for that of presiding officer of new companies, he was almost as phenomenal a failure as he had before been a phenomenal success. In 1841 Mr. Bennett entered the insurance office of E. Robins, who was the Western General Agent of the old Protection of Hartford, a good man, a kind employer and methodical in his business. Here the young underwriter obtained a view of the twenty years’ experience that had gone before, and here he continued until the death of Mr. Robins in 1846. During this interval Mr. Robins’ poor health often unhtted him for office duties and much of the responsibility and much of the important labor of the office fell into iMr. Bennett’s hands. There is a good deal of insurance history between 1846 and 1853 when the arrangement was entered into for a Western Branch Office of the MMna of Hartford under Mr. Bennett’s supervision, and the sixteen years that followed that arrangement witnessed a development of the agency business all over these United. States such as no man could have prophesied at their beginning, and it is not too much to say that the stimulus which started and kept it well a-going emanated in large part from Mr. Bennett’s Cincinnati General /\gency. Joseph B. Bennett was born on the iith of August, 1825, in the pretty English village of Narborough, County of Norfolk. Surety obligations and reverses in trade suddenly swept away the fortune of his father about the time of Joseph’s birth. After six years of struggle and retrenchment, emigration to America was determined on and in [831 they arrived in the United States. Pushing directly for what was then the Western frontier they settled in Cleveland, Ohio, then a town of less than 3,000 inhabit- ants. Cleveland severely tested the endurance of the little English boy before he was eight years old. He attended a school on Sujierior Street, kept by a Mr. Rawson, a strapping man of about 180 jiounds advoirdupois, with whom whipping was a daily and popular exercise. One day the entire class was to be put through. Joseph knew he was innocent, but all appeal was cut off, so, when his turn came, he stood stoically still and permitted neither tear nor muscle to reveal his torture. He would have dropped dead in his tracks rather than wince under Rawson’s rod. Nevertheless, Joe was glad to leave that Cleveland school, although he was making reputation among his playmates and finding in their friendshij-) a balsam lor the many black and blue stripes that Rawson inflicted. In 1833 the family moved to Cincinnati, hoping to find a more genial climate and favoring circumstances. Necessity early conqielled J. B. Bennett to adopt a life of toil, and at twelve years of age he labored in a wholesale grocery establishment so excess- i\’clv as to retard his growth. At fourteen he entered a jewelry store and worked with :u.s s„- :'ik*-: ■■ S't' ■S: F.*» '>C7*r ,.V- ■ ,*:» ‘■'•\;T*j<^-^5/.;.;'^ ^ r :?f :,- ■ *' . . ..*r- V: ■V’^ R^-; •*’^J vt.1 ^'- .V '^5^ I '■• » .' 4 ■-.•••. i V?j . ''*-*’'.V?t i^v «)• -v^,’ ■M' a^l-^ , 'M. -*y ’ ^ -kij' o'i&ww ^‘-f'y^‘>k S s -fi 'f.'" ‘ ' •;'V'. 'v*' ,. . v •r < 4-;‘'*ii% J ■ . . . ■ v> , ' ?l.yf afila;;/! •' « ' ‘' ' ‘V'' j '^b‘= •\ : :r’''‘^'"' I#<; jV'^4 '^t^ifk • 4'. ,M li * - ., 1 ■■ - k < ‘ Ik * ■ - ,i, Sfcf.,; *' ' ?* • V- k \. .t ki <:':J ;: ■ :‘J:!^kss^ ■ ' ■' f* '>’fi.-V . '' S t*5j». ■ ‘ %.r >4r • I , I*^- ^ * .1 *■ N.l*'- -V C"*! -‘ 4 fV ■• > f y 1^ »* FIRE AND MARINE. 849 such diligence that the owner was satisfied to leave him in charge for days at a time, but shoplifters, seeing a diminutive clerk in sole charge, were attracted to the store, where they were usually detected, but the little salesman could not leave to find an officer, and was, much to his own mortification, too small to arrest them himself. At fifteen he spent one year in college, and at sixteen he launched upon the profession in which he afterward made a national reputation. The later years of Mr. Bennett’s life won him the sympathy of all who knew him intimately during that period. While General Agent of the Bdtna he enjoyed a liberal income, and by prudent management of his private' affairs accumulated a con- siderable fortune, but he lost everything in the new companies which he started, and when he found himself at the bottom of the ladder with a new generation of men in control as managers and officers, he found it impracticable to get back into position again. He made a connection at one time with the New York Life and after that with the Continental Fire, and then for a number of years acted as Compact Manager. He died at Indianapolis, on the loth of November, 1889, aged 65, and his body rests in the beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery at Cincinnati, beneath a monument erected by the fire insurance men of the country as a slight testimonial of their high appreciation of his character, a character that stood such tests as seldom fall to the lot of humanity. During all his years of adversity he never lost confidence in himself, and, whatever his trials, his lips were sealed against complaint. He was cheerful, self-masterful, heroic, and he ripened under the softening influences of Christian culture onward to the date of his death, and he died in the harness; and there are more fire insurance men in the United States to rise up and call him blessed than would respond to the name of any other underwriter, living or dead. 11 . M. BLOSSOM. In studying the lives and characters of prominent men. we are naturally led to inquire into the secret of their success and the motives that prompted their action. Success is not merely a cjuestion of genius, as held l)y many, but rather a matter of experience and sound judgment. When we trace the character of those who stand highest in public esteem, we find in nearly every case that they are those who have risen gradually, fighting their way in the face of opposition. Such has been the expe- rience of Mr. H. M. Blossom, whose life has been full of interesting incidents, and who, in every sense of the term has been the architect of his own fortune. He owes his nativity to Madison, New York, where he was born in i8^y to Rufus and Tirzah Blossom, both originally from the State of iMassachusetts, but who in early life settled in the State of New York. In the latter State his boyhood days were spent and there he received a fair education in the public schools. In September, 1852, he migrated westward with his parents. At this time railroad building was prac- tically unknown in the West, and steamboating was one of the most attractive and lucrative callings that could be offered to a young man. Mr. Blossom decided upon following it. The city of St. Louis was at that time in a most thriving condition and in the trade of the Mississippi VClley occupied a commanding position, her transpor- tation facilities being wholly by the rivers. Over her waters floated hundreds of steamers in daily competition for the freight and passengers received and discharged at her 850 THE UNDERWRITER. wharves ; and the levee in the midst of the busy season was a sight to inspire anyone who had the capacity to conceive its meaning. Mr. Blossom’s keen and discerning mind comprehended it all at a glance, and his desire to be “ u}-) and doing” was soon rewarded, for he was given the position of Clerk on the steamer “Polar Star,” which at that time was the most successful and popular boat on the Missouri River. The steamers employed at that time in the trade of the Missouri River were noted for their speed and beauty of construction, and were scarcely less distinguished for the skill of their commanding officers and pilots, as well as for the courtesy and efficiencv of their clerks. Many an old citizen of St. Louis who may read these lines will recall the great popularity of the “Polar Star” and its Clerk, who had also become one of its owners and known everywhere on Western waters as “Harry Blossom.” He was no less popular in his service on that other famous steamer “Hiawatha,” which was in the New Orleans trade, ^and of this vessel he also became part owner. Steam- boating occupied his attention almost exclusively for nearly eight years ; but the Civil War opened and brought with it the practical suspension of steamboat interests on the river, so he came “on shore” and turned his attention to other pursuits. He has never been heard to regret those active and fruitful years of his early life, for they opened his eyes to the possibilities of the West, brought him into close contact with the leading men of all sections of the countr}', furnished him the best possible training in business methods, and while still young gave him conhdence in himself and revealed to him the value of kindness and courtesy in all the relations of life. After quitting the river he located permanently in St. Louis and engaged in the hre and marine insurance business, which he has continued to follow up to the present day, with a success that has made him widely known and honored, not only in the business community of St. Louis, but also in the insurance circles of the many States. He is the well-known author of many of the fundamental maxims and jirinciples now incor- porated into the governing laws of hre insurance associations throughout the country, some of which at their first proclamation were deemed fairly startling in their scope and effect. His trenchant pen has given to the literature of insurance some of its most salient features, and he has often appeared by re(,}uest l)efore various organized bodies of insurance men in the discussion of matters affecting their business. After completing three years of life in the West Mr. Blossom returned to his old home in New York, married there and returned West with his voting bride, with whom he lived in loving companionship for forty-one years, and then “God took her." Althoutrh he devotes close attention to his business he has found time to interest him- self in affairs of public moment and in social life, and is a member of the St. Louis, the Mercantile and the Noon-day clubs. He has long been a memlier of the First Presbyterian Church, and for twenty-hve years has been a member of its Elders and of its ‘ ‘ Session ” of Board of Trustees. . FRANK A. COLLEY. Frank A. Colley, of Boston, Alassachusetts, agent for several stock insurance companies for the New England States, was born December to, 1852, at Newmarket, New Hampshire, and is a son of William B. and Cynthia ]. Colley. His youthful career was but little different from that of the average boy of the time. When but fourteen years of age he graduated from high school, and verr shortly afterward com- menced his career in the insurance business, an occupation he has ever since continued. He began as office boy for John Sise, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who was then engaged in the general insurance business, but in October, 1870, accepted a position with Foster & Cole, of Boston, remaining with this firm until March, 1870, when he received the appointment of Special Agent for the New England States for the Union Insurance Company of Philadelphia. In Eebruary, 1889, he became Special Agent for the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company, for the same territory, was elected to the jTosition of General Agent for this company in January, 1891, and was given charge of the underwriting for the entire country. In September of the same year he was appointed Assistant Manager of the New York office of the London and Lanca- shire Fire Insurance Company, of England, but retired from this position, and in 1893 opened a general insurance office in Boston, where he is at present engaged in a large and profitable work. He is the New England Manager of the Globe Eire Insurance Company and the Norwood Fire Insurance Company, both of New York; IMillers’ and Manufacturers’ Insurance Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Schuylkill Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Boston Manager of the Reliance Insurance Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Colley has achieved distinction as one of the able insurance men of the age, and in addition to this is justly considered as one of Boston’s foremost citizens. He has found sufficient time from his work to partake of some of the social pleasures and privileges of life, being a Knight Templar of the York Rite, Masonry, as well as a d'hirty-second Degree member of the Scottish branch of that order. In religious views he is an avowed Protestant. As a Republican in politics he finds no reason why he is not in full accord and sympathy with his party in the year of our Eord 1896. 3.'>2 WILLIAM C. MAGILL. Mr. William C. Magill, whose portrait -appears on the page opposite, became a member of the insurance fraternity when he connected himself, in 1874, as solicitor, later as surveyor, with the hrm of George C. Clarke & Company, of Chicago. Remaining with Clarke lS: Company until Alay, 1878, always as the outside man of the concern (the latter part of the time a participant in the profits of the firm), he obtained a knowledge of men and fire hazards that has always paid him and his companies well. From 1879 to Octol)er i, 1887, he was the “Company” of Montgomery & Company, also of Chicago, and with that company filled the important position he seemed so well cut out for (general outside man of the firm), for in the \Vest the agents control a very much larger percentage of the insurance business done in their agency than do their Eastern brethren, and do much of the soliciting in person. On October i, 1887, the old firm was dissolved and i\Ir. Magill became the senior member of the firm of Magill & Chamberlain, which existed until October i, 1895, at which time he purchased Chamberlain’s interest, changing the style of the firm to W’llliam C. Magill & Company, the present name, known from the Atlantic to the Pacific. During the whole of the time Mr. Magill has been connected with the fire insurance business his specialty has l)een that of outside man (soliciting, surve}'ing and adjusting), where he has long since l)ecome thoroughly imbued with the idea that a company's interest is an agent’s interest, and that an agent who will watch net results and not his commissions is the agent who properly represents the companies intrusted to him and will win in the end. At the present time his firm, William C. Magill & Company, represent some $50,000,000 of insurance assets, and they seem each year to be able to give their companies a very nice net profit as well as a comfortable increase in premiums. 3,-)4 V FKK 1)1 NANI) MARKS. \ In Ferdinand Marks is found a man whose career through life is a decidedly interesting one. Mr. Marks was born in Germany June 23, icSyb, but since the year 1 (S60 he has been a resident of New Orleans, where he is well known and has many warm friends. He is a son of Leonard and Eva Marks, natives of the old country, where all their days were passed. Young Marks was educated in the schools of his native country and when but a lad of thirteen came to this country. After residing in New 'i'ork City for a )'ear he made his way to New Orleans and embarked in the wholesale clothing business, which he continued successfully until 1872. After this he was in the cotton business until 1886, when he became interested in insurance, as General Agent of the Manhattan Lite Insurance Company. In the year 1887 he was appointed Agent of the Farragut Fire Insurance Com- pany of New h’ork, which company is still in his office, together with London and Lancashire, Norwich Union, llnion Assurance, Hamburg-Bremen, Pennsylvania Farragut, Springfield Fire and Marine, Atlanta Home, Niagara, Mutual Fire of New York City, and others. In 1879 Mr. Marks was elected to the Constitutional Convention of Louisiana. He was appointed and reappointed a Director of the Charity Hospital of Louisiana — a State institution — and has been President of the Touro Hospital. He is a member of all the Jewish charitable associations in the city, and takes an active interest in all good work. I'or ten consecutive years Mr. Marks has visited Europe and he is also cjuite familiar with the different States of the Pinion. He was born and reared in the Jewish faith, but lielieves that all men have one God. He is a strong adherent to the Golden Rule in precept and practice. Since the year 1868 Mr. Marks has been an earnest Democrat, but he is ^now in favor of McKinley and will cast his vote for that gentleman in the fall of 1896. Mr. Marks is considered a good looking man and firmness and decision may be traced in his countenance. His firm is now Ferd. Marks & Son, and they do the largest fire insurance business in the Southern States. On the 23d of P'ebruary, 1869, Mr. IMarks married Miss P'anny Bensadon, and they have six children, three sons and three daughters. JOHN CHARLES WHITNER. A brilliant examifie of the self-made American citizen, and a grand exemplification of the progress that can be made l)y one determined to succeed in this country of unbounded oppoVtunities, is shown in the case of John C. Whitner, who comes of Revolutionary stock and in whose veins flows the sturdy and persevering blood of the German. He was born in ltdgefield County, South P'arolina, September 23, 1831, a son of Benjamin V. Whitner, and grandson of Josejdi and Elizabeth (Shackelford) Whitner, both native South Carolinians, joseph served under Gen. Marion during the Revolution, enlisting when (juite young. klis father bore the name of John Josef Wittner, and in 1757 came to this country from Germany and settled in Charleston, South Carolina a son of Josef Wittner, a man of wealth and position in Germany. The youthful days of )ohn C. Whitner were s}-)ent in his native State and I'lorida, whither his parents moved when he was cjuite young, and after a practical common school education he entered the P'ni\'ersity of Georgia in 1850, from which institution he 858 T H E U N I) R \V R I T E R. was graduated three years later. Soon after this he engaged in merchandising, in tlie fall of 1856 was appointed agent of the Georgia Railroad Bank of Augusta, the next year became agent of the Farmers’ & Exchange IFink of Charleston, in which occupa- tions he was very successful. During the great civil war he was on the staff of Gen. Howell Cobb, with important duties to perform, and in 1864 became a stockholder of the “Daily Register,” of which he was made editor-in-chief, in the columns of which he ably defended the course of Jefferson Davis and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. After a time the paper was compelled to leave Atlanta and was afterward published in Augusta, Georgia. It was not long afterward that Major Whitner was put under orders to leave, which he did on the last train that went out on the West Point road before Atlanta was evacuated, carrying with him the Confederate archives. He made many changes of base and ffnally entrusted those valuable documents to the chancellor of the Uni- versity of Georgia. Although the w^ar left Major Whitner practically penniless, his energy, ambition and determination w^ere by no means crushed, and in order to meet the bare necessities of life he became a correspondent to the “ NewWMrk Herald.” Maj or Whitner’s connection wuth insurance began not long after he commenced l)Lisiness at West Point, Georgia, about 1858, the management of the .Eitna Insurance Company at that point l)eing given him by the distinguished insurance journalist, C. C. nine, special agent of that company in its Western Department, and although his other interests at that time were very large and demanded much attention, insurance possessed for him a great attraction and he dipped deeply into every branch of its mysteries. His friend, J. B. Bennett, manager of the Hvtna Insurance Company, Cin- cinnati, w'rote him to investigate and report upon cotton storage and cotton fires, wdiich he did satisfactorily. After his removal to Atlanta after the war, a short time was devoted to the sale of drugs, w’hich he abandoned after a time to take up insurance and it was not long before a flourishing business w'as being done. Later he was appointed General Agent of the I lome Insurance Company of New York, was later given the management of the British - America Insurance Company, and finally that of the Merchants’ Insurance Company of Newark, wdiich he held for over twelve years. The Amazon of Cincinnati and Hibernia of New' Orleans w'ere also for a time in his charge, but since 1889 he has been General /\gent of the Girard P'ire Insurance Company of Philadelphia, wdiich is still under his capable management. At the same time he is General Agent of the Palatine Insurance Company of Itngland and of the Sun Mutual Insurance Comjiany of New' Orleans. Thus it may be seen that Major Whitner is one of the oldest and ablest of Southern undenvriters, and the interests of those he serves has ever been paramount w'ith him. September 28, 1853, Major Whitner w'as married to Miss Sarah M., daughter of Col. J. A. and Sarah (Rootes) Cobb, by w'hom he has seven children. He is a Christian gentleman in all that the w'ords imply, and he and his wife are worthy members of the Presbyterian Church. THOMAS IIENKY GEEK. Thomas Henry Geer was born at Ledyard, Conn., September 3, 1840. He is a son of Captain Nathaniel Bellows and Julia (Davis) Geer, who reside on a portion of the Geer ancestral estate in what is now the town of Ledyard, but was formerly known as New London. The Geer family took root on American soil in 1635, at which, time George Geer came thither from England. The literary education of Thomas H. Geer v/as acquired in the common schools of Ledyard, the Irving Institute at Tarrytown, New York, and the State Normal School at Westheld, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated in the class of 1859. He soon after began laboring as Principal of the Haskell Grammar School at West Glou- cester, Massachusetts. ^ In the latter part of i860 was elected and served as Principal of the high school - of Rockport, Massachusetts, for about one year. He then took a special classical course in the Free Academv of Norwich, Connecticut, after which he became a tutor in Burlington College, ifurlington. New York, his duties begin- ning with the spring term of 1862 and ending with the summer term of 1865. Ill health then caused him to seek other occupation, and in April, 1866, he became Special Agent of the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, in Eastern Massachusetts. In October of that year he became Resident Agent of the company, at Cleveland, Ohio, and later its General Agent for Northeast Ohio. About this time Mr. Geer also engaged in fire insurance, and in January, 1866, he was appointed Agent at Cleveland for the Guaranty Eire Insurance Company of New hMrk, and on March i, 1876, purchased the fire insurance business of Newberry & Gardner, who represented the Commercial Union Assurance Company of London, the Rhode Island Underwriters’ Associa- tion of Providence, and the Amazon and Enterprise Insurance companies of Cincinnati, Ohio. March r, 1877, (Eudner retired, Mr. Geer continuing until 1891, when he ad- mitted his cousin, Ered S. Geer, who had been chief clerk in the office, to a partnership. Thomas H. Geer & Company how rejiresent the following companies : The Com- mercial Union Assurance Company of London since hlarch i, 1876 ; the Rhode Island Underwriters of Providence since hlarch i, 1876: tlpe American Eire of New York since April, 1879; the Lion Fire of London from January. 1881: the Sun Insurance office from June, 1885; the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company from July, 1892: the Philadel- phia Underwriters from January i, 1895: and Mr. Geer has represented the New York- Life of New York, the Standard of London, the Fireman’s Fund of California, the Imperial of London, the Buffalo German of Buffalo, New York, and the Western Underwriters. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersev, has been represented by him in Cleveland since hlay i, 1S85, hut the most of his attention has been given to fire insurance. hir. Geer has always been interested in associations organized for the purpose of benefiting the various branches of insurance, and has been Secretar}- and President of the Cleveland Life Underwriters’ Association ; Secretary of the Life Underwriters’ Association of the State of Ohio; President of the Cleveland Board of Underwriters in 1894-95, of which he had previously been Treasurer and \dce-I^resident. Mr. Geer was reared in the Episcopal faith, and at the age of eighteen years was confirmed by the Rt. Rev. John Williams, Bishop of Connecticut. He is an active member of Trinity Church, Cleveland, and has been a member of its vested choir for the past thirteen years. Politically he has always been a Republican. He was married June 30, 1868, to Fanny Halsey Brewster, who is a direct descendant of, and the eighth generation from, Elder William Brewster, pastor of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Mr. and Mrs. Geer have one daughter, Mary Brewster, wife of Edwin L. Thurston, a patent attorney, of Cleveland. 3,;^ I N I) E X . ^•Titna Ainei'ican. Boston American Fire. 1 ’liiladeli)hia Arnold, F. W Aiwood. H. F Bailey, James 1) Ban<)'s, Franklin Barbour. A. L Barley, J. W Barry, Charles H Barton, Win. T Bartow, C'harles .S Beatli, Robert B Beddall, F. F Beddall. E. K Belden, Henry K Belden, .1. B Bell, Wm Bennett. F. C Bennett, J. B Bennett, Martin Benson, R. 1) Bissell, (Jeo. F Bissell, R. M Blossom, Geo. W Blossom, H. >1 Boardman, Geo. C Brewster, .las. H Brewster. Win. FI Brown, M. O Brown, T. Y Burcliell, Geo. W Cambridge Fire Insurance Co Case. Cliarles FF Case, 1<1. B Cary, F'lufrene Chard, Thos. S Chase, Chas. E Cluise, Geo. L Citizens’ Fnsurance ( 'o., New York Clark. J. J Clark, W. B Cofran. J. W^. G Colley, F. A Collins, S. T Commercial Union Insurance Co.. . Commonwealth Insurance Co (Vmcordia Insurance Co Cook. Frederick Courtney. .1. J Cowles. E. B Crandall. Geo. L Crawford. Geo. R Critchell. R. S Cunninji'ham, W. IF Damon, A. W I)e Camp, J. M Delaware Insurance Co Detroit F. & M De Wolf, J. H Dickson. Robt Dornin, Geo. D Dornin, Geo. W' Downino-. .F. h’ Driyys. Marshalls Ducat. A. C Dudley. Jas. F’ Dudley. W. W Dunlo]). ( 'hits. D Dutton, Wm. .1 Eaton. Henry W Eddy, I.I. C Fkjuitabic I’’. & M., Frovidence. . . . F’arra^ut Insurance Co I’.\GE PAGE 20 ;!2 ;h 52 214 144 i:i5 ;i.42 104 bS(i 150 42 22 !) 202 •[•)- IK) 27(5 2S2 24 ;s4,s ;ii8 1S4 10 () 114 108 J40 20 ;I22 ISO 2.'i4 00 204 :i:ii 208 000 88 74 100 100 .88 52 21 112 852 74 240 42 40 208 250 810 1.54 282 140 00 217 200 40 .52 202 81 (i 172 170 1.88 2.80 180 •)•) 278 202 70 Faymonville. Bernard 72 F’ield, Geo. P 808 Fitchburg Fire Insurance Co 884 l<’ire Association of Philadel]>hia . . 50 Fireman's Fund 01 Fisher. Geo. 51 284 I’rancis, Wm. A 158 Freeman. Nat. B 840 Garrigue. R. H Geer, Thos H German-American Insuratice Co. . Gillett. A. S Girard Insurance Co Goetztnan , Frederick Goodwin. Warren F Gray. H. 1' Greenwich Fnsurance Co Griffin, 5iatthew 1.50 801 88 84 •S4 212 82.S 00 02 .841 Hall. Heni-y H 828 Hall, Sanford .1 218 Harbeck, Eugene 104 Harding, x\. J 220 Hanover Fnsurance Co !)4 Hartford Fire Fnsurance Co 08 Harvey. Geo. 5F 158 Haven. Chas. D ■. . . 270 Heald. Daniel A 120 Hanshaw. W. W 82.5 Herkness. FFenj. T 58 Heywood. F^. 1^ 110 Fline. C. C .'142 Hollingshead, Chas. S 220 Holman. Chas. J 2.50 Home Fnsurance Co . New York. . . 120 Home 5Futual. San F'rancisco 184 Flosmer. R. W 82 Imperial Insurance Co 2.50 Insuratice Co. of N. A 180 Irvin. E. C .50 Ives, Stejihen I) 18.5 .Fames, F’red. S lOli Janvier, Chas 280 Kellogg, Chas W 70 Fvnowles, Chas. R 140 Ivnowles, Clarence 188 F^ane, 1. Remsen 04 Law, Geo. W 200 Law. John-H 2!) 4 Letton. T. W’ 288 Levison, J. B 82 Fhon Insurance Co .810 Fjondon and Lancashire 272 Fjittle. Chas. C 102 Liverpool & F^ondon & Globe 201 Loewentluil. R. A 150 r_.yon. Geo. M 1.82 Macdonald, Wm 270 Alagill, W. C 8.54 .Manchester Fire Assurance Co. . . 278 Marks, Ferdinand .8.50 Maris. Richard .80 Mass. Mutual Insurance Union.... 820 McCray. W. B 142 5FcFlwaine, Jr.. A. G 274 Mcrjean. Geo. IF 42 AFercantile. Boston .82 Merchants' Insurance Co.. Newark 1.5() Merchants' Ins. Co.. F’rovidence. . 1.50 Merrill. Geo. S 288 204 Michigan F'. & M. Insurance Co. . . 250 ' Mims. FJvingston. ..... ,52 j iMilwaukee Mechanics'. .54 1 Montgomery, Thos. H. . 1.52 02 1.54 84 Mullins, Chas. F 252 Mutual F'ire, New York 150 National. Hartford 100 New Flngland Burglary Ins. Co. . . . 170 Nichols, James. . . . ! ](i2 Norcross, Aniasa 884 Ogden. Henry Y 207 Osmun. Daniel (' 2(i0 F’aige. Jno. C 201 Palache, Whitney 118 Palatine Insurance Co 280 IMulding. Tattnall 4.S l^ennsylvania F''ire Insurance Co . . . 1X2 IHienix of Brooklyn 102 l-’hamix of Hartftn-d ,. 200 Pierce. James F' 240 Fhatt. Chas 1.8.x I’ope. T. Fldward 100 l^rovidence. Washington 202 Prussian National 2.X.X (Jueen Insurance Co 2o4 Ransom. C. M 844 Richards. FI. G 108 Richardson. Chas 170 liochester German 208 Rollo. W. FI 80 Rollo. W. F 88 Royal Flxchange Assurance Co. .. . 81.5 Royal Insurance Co 200 Koyce. P. C loi Scottish F^nion and National .818 Sewell. Chas 248 Skilton. 1). W. (' 200 Smith, Atwood 2(>4 Smith, R. J 224 Simpson. A. Fv 78 Snow. E. G 120 S])encer. Geo. W 28 Sitringheld F5 and M 2Ki Staples. I). J 08 Stillman. B. R 104 Stockdell, H. C 108 Tenney. John 804 Traders' Insurance Co 228 Tupiter. S. Y 200 Turnbull. Thos U)4 Fhiderhill. J. (,) 282 Union Fnsurance Co., l^hila 220 Union Assurance Soci'ty of London. .'122 United F'iremen's. Phila 220 FTltham. R. F' .880 Walker, H. FF 128 Walton. FI. A 40 Warfield, R. Einorv 800 Washbnrn. .Fohn IF 122 Watt. Rolla Y .812 AVeinmann. Louis .XO Westchester Insuram-e Co 2.'i0 Wheelock, H. S I.XO Whitney. E. H 1,52 AVhitner. .1. C 85)) Williamsburg City Insurance Co. . 280 Wilson. I'ldgar S ,X0 AVollaeger, Gustav 4)> Wood. Geo 802 Wood. AYm 284 AYorcester F’ire Insurance Co 830 AVray. A. H 248 AA'yman. AA'. FF 80 Yarnall, Chas. H .50 A'onng, Geo. S. A 118 The EnKravin^s in tliis Work were made by J. MAN/ CO.. CHICAGO. ..O' ' I I / l t 'V I I. ::i. S''’’ -'s i'h. '■'li.';!!.' ' ■