Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

In the Senate he developed remarkable abil- ity as a debater, almost unconsciously impressing on his co-workers the fact that in Senator Walsh they had among them a man of judicial mind, in- stinctive sagacity, strong memory, iron will, in- domitable perseverance, great power of mental concentration, and withal, entire self-command; in fact, before the close of the first term he had become a recognized power in that body. Dur- ing the session of 1885 he served as chairman of the committee on Incorporations, and in 1886 and 1887 he was chairman of the Judiciary com- mittee. Both of these prominent chairmanships he filled with remarkable ability, and demon- strated so much strength in general legislation that he became the leader of his party in the Senate, and had the honor of being called to pre- side over that body as president pro ton. during the session of 1887. In 1888 he was nominated by the Republicans for the office of Secretary of State of Connecticut, and was elected with the rest of the ticket. He filled the position with dignity and honor. In the spring of 1889 he was appointed judge of the Criminal Court of Com- mon Pleas in Fairfield county, bringing to that position all the ripe fruit of his rare legal training and experience, and an eminently judicial mind. Upon the acceptance of this he hoped to with- draw from all active participation in politics. In 1890 he positively refused the use of his name for a renomination for the office of Secretary of State, and fully expected and was anxious to be relieved of the duties of the office at the expira- tion of his term. The failure of the Legislature to declare the election of his successor made it impossible for him to leave the office vacant, the constitution of the State making him the secre- tary until his successor had been declared elected, and had been duly qualified. Although Judge Walsh's political success has been brilliant in the extreme, and is full of promise, it in nowise overshadows his success as a lawyer. In 1885, having already achieved a wide reputation, he was appointed, by Governor Harrison, a member of the commission to revise the statutes of Connecticut. Although one of the youngest men in that body (which was com- posed of the flower of the legal profession), he was one of the most active in its deliberations, bringing to the work in hand a well-trained mind, a clear judgment and remarkable powers of an- alysis. His older colleagues on the commission were quick to recognize his ability, and it is an indisputable fact that the success of the revision was due in no small degree to his unremitting zeal and keen intelligence. Mr. Walsh's practice is one of the most gen- eral kind. His services are sought to such an extent that his business extends to all the courts of the State. The greater part of his work con- sists of important cases, and his practice is lu- crative as well as large. Probably no lawyer of his years in the State occupies a more distinguished position at the Bar, or is held in greater esteem by his colleagues. His enviable reputation has been won by the exhibition of some of the best qualities of manhood, including perseverance, diligence, inflexible integrity and a high sense of honor in both business and legislation. His mind, while full of information, patient in details, and accurate in the minutest point, is naturally com- prehensive, and tends to broad and rapid gen- eralization. His political strength, based alike on his distinguished ability as a lawyer and his unremitting zeal in the public service, grows stronger year by year, and is steadily augmented by his great personal popularity. The Judge's great abilities have not been wholly confined to strictly professional or polit- ical pursuits. He has also given considerable at- tention to financial matters, in all of which his course has been marked throughout by the same integrity, fidelity and ability. He was largely instrumental in organizing and establishing the Greenwich Trust, '*Loan & Deposit Company, which has been successful far beyond the expec- tation of its promoters. In 1890, while absent on his vacation, he was, quite unexpected to himself, elected its president, a position he still holds. He is also director and counsel of the Greenwich Gas & Electric Light Company, of which he was an enthusiastic promoter. He is >jilwii.iia. COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 143 secretary of the Hawthorne Mills Company, a corporation having nearly one million dollars capital, and conducting a business in the manu- facture and sale of woolen goods, in both Green- wich and New York City. He is interested in some land improvement schemes, and a strong advocate and friend of progress and improvement in all directions. At all times and under all circumstances he is a representative "American, patriotic to the backbone, ever eloquent upon the future of his country and the magnificent possi- bilities for all which that future involves. His career is a shining example of what may be accomplished by inherent natural abilities allied to a strong determination and perseverance, even under the most adverse circumstances. He has achieved a tnoderate competence, an influential position and an honorable name; yet no man owes less to fortuitous circumstances or extra- neous help. That there are no rules for building character, no rules for achieving success, no royal road to fame, is only proven by the career of Hon. Robert J. Walsh, who, as will be seen, has been distinctively and absolutely the archi- tect of his own fortune. MEV. RUSSELL T. HALL, D.D., pastor of the First Congregational Church at New Britain, Conn., is descended from an old New England family whose time of settlement dates back to 163 1, and is now known to genealogists as "The Medford Hall Family" from their loca- tion at Medford, Mass. Born October 6, 1844, at Richmond, Vt., Dr. Hall is a son of Joseph A. and Sarah (Bronson) Hall, the former of whom was the son of a farmer, and a native of Vermont, born at Richmond, as was also his wife, who was the daughter of Thomas Bronson. This couple in 1856 moved with their family to near Oberlin, Ohio, locating in Russia township, Lorain county, where they were occupied as agriculturists, and there at Oberlin College they educated all five of their children who reached adult age, namely: Russell T. , the eldest of the five, is mentioned farther on; Mary H. married Jacob F. Ellis, a prominent educator and president of a college; Thomas A. is a business man in Chicago; Lyman B. is a member of the Faculty at Oberlin Col- lege, Oberlin, Ohio; and Emily married Merton Thompson, and died at Albina, Ore. The father of these later in life moved to Michigan, where he died at the age of seventy-one years. He was a man of considerable force of character and ability. Having enjoyed but meager school .advantages, he the more appreciated what an education meant, and so gave his own children the best privileges in that direction. He had acquired by reading and contact with the world a large fund of general information, and was able to enjoy and appreciate the society of learned men. He was a leader in the different com- munities in which his lot was cast. Himself and wife were devout members of the Congregational Church. His widow now makes her home with our subject. Dr. Russell T. Hall was a lad of twelve years when his father moved to Ohio. He entered Oberlin college, Oberlin, Ohio, and was grad- uated in the class of '65. During the Civil war he served one year, enlisting in December, 1861, as a private in Company H, 43rd O. V. L, and saw active service, participating in the various engagements in which his command took part. Owing to disability he was honorably discharged Nov. 30, 1862. In May, 1S64, he again enlisted, this time in the one-hundred-days' service, and was assigned to duty in Washington, D. C. He was promoted to the rank of hrst lieutenant of his company. In September, 1869, he was mar- ried to Miss Mary A. Tyler, a native of Medina county, Ohio, a daughter of Gideon W. Tyler, one of the leading men of that county, where he served several years as county auditor. The daughter in question is a graduate of Oberlin College. To Dr. Hall and his wife have been born children as follows: Edith B. is at this time in the senior class at Oberlin College; Arthur B. is a freshman in Yale College; Tyler died in infancy; and Walter died when ten years of age. Politically Dr. Hall is a Republican. In 1895 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by his Alma Mater, he being the second on the list to receive such honor from Oberlin College. The following pen sketch of our subject, writ- ten by a noted divine, appeared in the "Treas- ury of Religious Thought" in January, 1895: " It has been noticed that Americans who passed their intellectual and spiritual adolescence, dur- ing the period of our great Civil war, developed in many cases a peculiar toughness and strength of fibre, that quieter titnes fail to produce. They were ' marked ' in their mental and moral na- tures b)" the martial sights and sounds amid which they came to maturity. This was notably the case with the subject of this sketch. His four college years were the four years of the war. Lincoln's call for 75,000 men fell upon his ears just as he was girding himself for the college cur- riculum, and the most notable event in the clos- ing month of his senior year was the jubilation on the college green over the surrender at Ap- pomattox. The call of the country in those days 144 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.