1811-1887 Ebenezer Learned
Ebenezer Learned (1811-1887) founded the Norwich Fire Insurance Company in 1846. The company was taken over by his son, Bela Peck Learned, in 1870 and renamed B. P. Learned & Co. In 1865, the Norwich Board of Trade listed Ebenezer’s annual income to be $13,181. Ebenezer Learned died in July 1887, and Bela continued in the business until his death in March 1910. At that time, his son, Ebenezer (b. 1876, d. 1948), grandson of the founder, took control of the company and continued it under the same name.
The Learned family was prominent in the real estate and insurance industries for many years, having established the first stock fire insurance company in Connecticut. The company was chartered in Norwich in 1803 and was capitalized for $100,000 with provisions to extend to $300,000, which it did in 1864 as the company expanded its territory. In these early days, no provision was made to hold reserves against liability. So, a dollar, when it reached the treasury, was considered earned. Today’s earnings are calculated when the policy reaches term. In 1849, premiums totaled $22,056, and interest amounted to $1,204. Losses and stock dividends amounted to $22,270.38.
In 1854, Ebenezer Learned was the secretary of The Norwich Fire Insurance Company and became its president in 1864. The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 caused such extensive losses that the company, then the oldest stock insurance company in Connecticut, was compelled to cease operations.
Ebenezer and his wife, Matilda Denison, had a son, Bela Peck Learned, in 1837. Sadly, Matilda died 12 days after Bela’s birth.
1811-1890 Honorable John T. Wait
John T. Wait was born in New London, Connecticut, on August 27, 1822. He moved to Norwich at a young age with his widowed mother. John studied law with the Honorable Lafayette Foster. He served as the state attorney for New London County for 10 years. John was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives for 3 years and was chosen speaker of the House for one year. In 1874, he ran for LT. Governor on the Republican ticket, but was unsuccessful.
In 1876, John Wait was elected to the 44th Congress, where he served for a term of 11 years. During the Civil War years, he fully supported the war and served as a speaker at numerous recruitment rallies throughout the state. When the war ended, he was made an honorary member of the Sedgwick Lodge, Post #1, Grand Army of the Republic in Norwich.
His home was located in Norwichtown. It was written at the time; John T. Wait was a courteous gentleman, a respected neighbor, and an honored friend.
1815-1884 John Fox Slater
John F. Slater, the son of John Slater (Samuel Slater’s brother and partner), was born in March 1815 in Slatersville, RI. He was educated in academies at Plainfield, CT, and Wrentham and Wilbramham, MA. In 1831, John Slater’s father purchased his brother Samuel’s share in their Jewett City cotton mills. He thereafter sent his son, John Fox Slater, to assist in the mill’s management and to oversee operations at a small mill at Hopeville, about three miles away, that John Slater, Sr. had purchased in 1825.
On the death of John Slater, Sr., in 1843, his two sons, John Fox and William S. Slater, inherited his business properties. In 1849, the brothers purchased the interests of Samuel Slater’s heirs in Slatersville. In 1853, they decided that William S. Slater should oversee the Slatersville mills, and that John Fox Slater should continue managing the Jewett City and Hopeville mills. They operated these properties under the name J. & W. Slater until 1872, when the partnership was dissolved; each brother then gained ownership of the mills under his charge. John Fox Slater made many improvements to his Jewett City mills, and his activities had a considerable impact on the community.
John F. Slater was succeeded by his son William A. Slater in 1884. Two years later, the Great Freshet of 1886 destroyed most of the dams along the Pachaug. The Slater mills were inundated, resulting in production loss for many months, and more than $150,000 was spent on repairs. This crisis was surmounted, and by 1896, the company’s most prosperous period, 700 looms and 19,000 spindles were operating, providing employment for 500 people. The major products were stripes, plaids, flannels, dress goods, and fancy colored goods.
In 1842, John Slater moved from Jewett City to their mansion at 352 Main Street in Norwich. In 1865, the Norwich Board of Trade listed the annual income of John Slater at $104,269.
In 1867, the Taft brothers were well along in the process of constructing their mills when they encountered financial difficulties and were forced to look for assistance and reorganize. John F. Slater, Edward Chappell, and Lorenzo Blackstone became involved in the project. In 1871, the mill became known as Ponemah Mills (an Indian word meaning “our future hope”). The combined buildings had a frontage of 1,400 feet and, at the time of construction, were considered the largest cotton manufacturing plant in the world.
While in Norwich, John Slater helped to endow the Norwich Free Academy. In 1882, he donated to a board of ten trustees, incorporated in New York state, $1,000,000 to be used for the education of freed blacks in the southern states. Among the original trustees of the Slater Fund were Rutherford B Hayes, Morrison R. Waite, William E Dodge, Phillips Brooks, Daniel Coit Gilman, Morris Ketchum Jesup and the donor’s son, William A Slater; and among members chosen later were Melville W. Fuller, William E. Dodge, Jr, Henry Codman Potter, Cleveland H. Dodge and Seth Low. By 1909, the fund had increased, despite expenditures, to more than $1,500,000 through careful investment. The fund has been of great value in aiding industrial schools throughout the South. For this far-sighted act of philanthropy, John Fox Slater was posthumously awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor.
John Fox Slater died in Norwich in May 1884.
In 1884, John Fox Slater’s son, William A. Slater, wishing to honor his distinguished father, made a generous donation to the trustees of Norwich Free Academy for the creation of a new building that would bear his father’s name. Part of the building would house a museum and art gallery.
1815-1900 Lucius Wyman Carroll
Lucius Carroll was born in Thompson, Connecticut, in January 1815. He left home in 1830 and found work in a retail store in Webster, MA. Following several years of hard work, Mr. Carroll came to Norwich and opened a retail store in 1843, dealing in mill and manufacturers’ supplies. In 1865, he formed a partnership with E. P. Jacobs and Loren A. Gallop, known as L.W. Carroll & Co. Mr. Jacobs passed away in 1874, and following the retirement of Captain Gallup in 1876, Lucius Carroll took his older son, Adams P. Carroll, into the firm and renamed the business L. W. Carroll & Son.
The building referred to as Carroll’s Block was located in Norwich at the corner of Main and Water Street. It is now known as the Flatiron Building. Mr. Carroll was a major partner in the Griswold Cotton Company. He joined forces with Moses Pierce and other promoters of water power, securing rights along the Shetucket River, which led to the formation of the Occum Company, for which Mr. Carroll served as secretary and treasurer. He had a considerable banking interest and was president of the Quinebaug Bank, which later became the First National Bank of Norwich, a position he held from 1856 to 1866. Lucius was a member of the Central Baptist Church.
An engraving of the Flatiron Building, built in 1887, is shown on the left.
He served a term on the Norwich Common Council. He was one of the incorporators of the Norwich Free Academy. In 1900, Lucius retired from the business he had founded fifty-seven years earlier and relinquished control to his son, Adams P. Carroll. Although he lived to be 86, he maintained a sharp memory and was unusually active. Lewis Carroll was an old-school New England gentleman, dignified in his bearing, courteous in manner, and a man who commanded respect at all times.
Lucius Carroll married Charlotte Lathe Pope in May 1843 in Middlebury, MA. They were the parents of five children: Charlotte L. Augusta, died at 16; Charles Lucius, lost at sea in 1864 at 17; Adams Pope; and William Crosby who died in infancy.
George Wyman born May 1859, following public education he entered the family business (L. W. Carroll & Son) were he worked for several years. In 1902, he withdrew from the company to join the bond, stock, and real estate business in Norwich. George married Emma Frances Briggs, daughter of Ira G. and Lydia (Andrews) Briggs, her father a wealthy textile manufacturer in Voluntown. They had one son, George Wyman Jr., in 1886.
1816-1894 Amos W. Prentice
Amos Prentice was a native of what is now called Griswold, born December 1816, son of Amos and Lucy (Wylie) Prentice. His father died when Amos was young, so at age seven in 1823, he came to Norwich to live with his uncle. He received a somewhat meager education but was endowed with superior native intelligence and learned independently. As a boy, he worked as a clerk in William Buckingham’s store. In 1831, he was employed in a hardware store on Water Street, owned by Joseph and John Breed.
Amos proved to be industrious and competent, and in 1840 was made a member of the firm, which changed its name to John Breed & Co. Following John Breed’s death, Prentice became the senior partner, and in 1864, the company name became A. W. Prentice & Co. His income in 1865, as reported by the Norwich Board of Trade, was $6,038 ($139,000 in today’s dollars). Mr. Prentice continued in active business until 1889, when he retired, and the firm was again renamed Eaton, Chase & Co. Amos Prentice remained active in business for fifty-seven years.
Amos Prentice was civic-minded and devoted much of his energy toward seeing Norwich grow and its citizens prosper. In 1854, he represented his district in the state senate. From 1858 to 1860, he served as mayor and on the Court of Common Council for a ten-year term. In 1877, he represented Norwich in the state legislature.
Amos was a member of the Broadway Congregational Church (now the United Congregational Church), and following his death, succeeded Gov. William A. Buckingham as a Deacon. He was a trustee for Norwich Free Academy.
In other business interests, Amos Prentice served as a director and president of the Norwich Savings Society (the second-oldest and largest in CT.), a director of the First National Bank, and a director of the Richmond Stove Co. At a public meeting, Amos was the first person in New England to suggest the name Abraham Lincoln for president of the United States. During the Civil War years, when public meetings were held to determine ways and means to help Union soldiers, Amos Prentice was chosen to preside. During the dark days of the Civil War, Amos was Gov. Buckingham’s closest advisor and friend. His efforts in aiding the cause and assisting the soldiers were widely recognized.
Amos Prentice married Hannah E. Parker, a native of Mansfield, CT., in May 1840. Mrs. Prentice passed away in December 1887 at sixty-five.
Amos Prentice was considered an ideal citizen by the Norwich community. He was known for possessing a broad mind and a kindly disposition and was charitable to all in need.
He died following a short illness in December 1894.