Morning journal and courier., 1890-08-25
LEGIsLArIyE cLERKsHIPs.
Oldest Clerk of the House-F1rst steps
in Political Advancement IN the


oldest Clerk of the House-Ffrst steps
sr poItt,caI Advancement I'm the
State.
The Oldest surviving clerk of the house
of representatives in this state is Stillman
K. Wightman of New York, who held the
position in 1885, and who was speaker of
the house two years afterward. Mr..
Wightman is not only the senior clerk Of
the legislature in this state, but also the
oldest surviving speaker of the house, ante
dating the venerable Charles J. McCurdy
of Lyme in the Office by three years. Hon.
Abijah Catlin of Harwinton stands next to
him in point Of seniority, having held the
house clerkship in 1889. Mr.. Catlin is one
of the oldest Of the Yale graduates in the
state, having received his diploma from
that institution in 1895.
Yale college, by the way, has been hand
somely represented in the general assembly
clerkships. The place being a stepping
sought from the outset by men of enter
prise and talent. Two governors of the
state, Henry Dutton and Charles r. In
gersoll, began their careers as house
clerks. Ex-Governor Ingersoll was clerk
of the house in 1886 Congressman
Stephen w. Kellogg of Waterbury was
clerk Of the senate in 1851, and the late
Congressman julius L. Strong of Hartford
held the same clerkship in 1858. Hon. o.
H. Platt of Meriden, senior senator from
Connecticut, was clerk of the senate in
1866. Mr. Platt was the first clerk in ten
years to be reelected, and in 1857 ne
49, atofyy IF
state
Isaac H. Bromley was the original bene-
ficiary Of the plan that now prevails rela-
tive to succession in Office. He began as
assistant clerk of the house in 1855, three
years after his graduation from Yale, and
was admitted to the clerkship in 1857. In
1858 he was senate clerk, establishing a
party precedent that has been broken In
only one or two instances. Bromley was
followed in 1860 by Cyrus Northrop, who
afterwards held the professorship of Eng
fish literature at Yale, and who is now at
the head of Minnesota university. The
present chairman of the republican state
central committee, Hon. e. S. Day of Col
chester, was the senate clerk in 1858. Elk
Speaker Lynde Harrison of New Haven
graduated from the position in 1864
having passed through the house clerk.
ship during the previous years. Exon
gresham John R. Buck of Hartford fol
lowed closely in Harrison's steps, conclud
ing his clerkship career in 1866.
The late John M. Morris, who carried
off the Yale valedictory in 1860, and two
years later at fredericksburg volunteered
for the forlorn hope in laying the pontoon'
across the Rappahannock, was the clerk o.
the senate in 1867 Colonel John A. lib
bits, the present United States consul a
Bradford, England, was house clerk in 1856!
and senate clerk in 1870. Judge Georg'
H. Cowen of Waterbury held the place il
1878, and Judge Samuel A. York of New
Haven in 1874. Judge E. B. Bennett of Hart
ford, a Yale man, was the senate clerl
in 1871, succeeding Mr.. Tibbits. TIL,
prominent young lawyers who have hele
the clerkships during the last dozen year
| include Messrs E. Henry Hyde, jr., ant
Joseph L.. Barbour of Hartford, Donald G
Perkins of Norwich, Charles P. Wood
bury of Norwalk, Austin Brainard Of
Hartford, acting secretary of the repub
ican state central committee, and William
j. McConvil1e, who was elected Judge o.
the police court in Hartford by the legis
lature while he was the incumbent of thu
clerkship in the senate.
Under the present system in this stat
the clerks career is terminated in tire,
sessions, granting, of course, that tn
political party with which he is connected
retains supremacy for that length of time
The clerks tenure of Office is essential,
involved in the fate of his party.