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John A. Tibbits

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John Arnold Tibbits
Sketch of a portrait of a man with a beard and mustache and short hair, looking towards the left, in a formal suit
Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives
In office
1886–1886[1]
Preceded byWilliam Edgar Simonds
Succeeded byHeusted W. R. Hoyt
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from New London
In office
1872–1872
In office
1885–1886[a]
Personal details
BornFebruary 19, 1844
New London, Connecticut
DiedJuly 22, 1893(1893-07-22) (aged 49)
New London, Connecticut
Political partyRepublican
SpouseLydia Dennis
Children1
ProfessionPublisher, politician
Military service
Allegiance United States of America
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1862-1865
RankMajor
Unit14th Connecticut Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars

John Arnold Tibbits[b] (February 19, 1844 - July 22, 1893) was an American publisher and politician from Connecticut.

Born in New London, Connecticut, Tibbits attended Bartlett High School and Williston Seminary. Afterwards, he went to Williams College for a brief period, but never graduated; instead, he decided to study law in New London. When the American Civil War broke out, Tibbits enlisted in the Union Army and became a major.

After the war, he established the newspaper The Day, among others that have since ceased publishing. Additionally, as a Republican, he represented New London in the Connecticut House of Representatives, including as Speaker in 1886, and was involved in Republican party politics.

Early life

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A black-and-white illustration of an unpaved road leading to a school, with apparent Georgian-style architecture
The Williston Seminary in 1856, where Tibbits attended school before Williams College.

John Arnold Tibbits was born on February 19, 1844 to John W. and Fanny Chappell Tibbits in New London, Connecticut.[4] His mother died when he was an infant, and Tibbits was raised by his family members.[c] Tibbits attended Bartlett High School in New London[5] and Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts.[7] He matriculated to Williams College in 1860, and joined the Kappa Alpha Society at the same year.[7] He stayed at Williams for less than a year,[8] leaving the College to study law in New London.[4]

Military service

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Following the outbreak of the American Civil War, Tibbits enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Infantry Regiment on July 12, 1862,[9] becoming an orderly sergeant.[4][6] He first engaged in combat on September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, where he was wounded in both hands;[5] as a result, he lost use of his left hand.[4] After recovering from his injuries, Tibbits was promoted to second lieutenant of Company F on December 15, 1862,[8] and fought at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, where he sustained another injury to the right arm and was subsequently honorably discharged.[4][9]

Later, after re-enlisting, he served under George Armstrong Custer with the Army of the Potomac's cavalry in the Valley campaigns of 1864,[5][8] and was promoted to captain on May 28, 1864.[9] Upon his final honorable discharge on July 31, 1865, Tibbits was brevetted the rank of major.[9]

Career

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Tibbits was involved in numerous pursuits during his career, including journalism, politics, and law.[5] He also was involved in real estate and insurance.[10]

Journalism

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When he returned to New London at the end of the Civil War, Tibbits became an editor of David S. Ruddock's New London Morning Star until 1872.[5] In 1873, as Ruddock was struggling with health issues and unable to publish the Star and his other newspaper, the New London Democrat, Tibbits began to write his own newspapers, the Evening Telegram and Connecticut Gazette, to replace them respectively; both ceased publishing in 1909.[11]

The Day

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Main article: The Day (New London)

On July 2, 1881, Tibbits, along with John C. Turner (a colleague from the publishing company Tibbits established to replace Ruddock's businesses)[5] and John McGinley, began The Day,[11] under the company John A. Tibbits & Co., located at 52 Bank Street in what is now the Downtown New London Historic District.[12][13] Tibbits was the editor and publisher of the newspaper and wrote several reports before leaving to serve as consul to Bradford, England in 1889;[5] his family sold The Day to Theodore Bodenwein, a former apprentice of the paper, in 1891.[11][14]

Law

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Photographic portrait of a man with spectacles in a bow tie and a formal suit, looking to the right
Thomas M. Waller, who ran in the 1882 Connecticut gubernatorial election as a Democrat; Tibbits heavily criticized Waller but later re-established a law firm with him.

After the Civil War, Tibbits finished his study of law with Augustus Brandegee in 1866.[15] Tibbits and Thomas M. Waller established a law firm when Tibbits entered private practice,[8] and were both elected to represent New London in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1872.[16]

However, the law firm eventually broke up; Tibbits, as a Republican, criticized Waller and his candidacy as a Democrat in the 1882 Connecticut gubernatorial election, accusing him of hypocrisy and betraying the working class.[17]. Waller won his campaign and served as governor of Connecticut until president Grover Cleveland appointed him to serve as consul to Bradford, England in 1885.[11][17] President Benjamin Harrison would later nominate Tibbits to the same position in 1889 to replace Waller.[11] Tibbits, Waller, and Waller's son, Tracey, established another law firm in spite of their political differences,[11] which dissolved again on August 18, 1887 as the group became separated geographically.[18]

Politics

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Tibbits served in multiple roles in the Connecticut General Assembly, first as an assistant clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1868, ascending to clerk the following year; he also served as the clerk of the Connecticut State Senate in 1870.[7][16] Tibbits was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1872 and 1885, representing New London; subsequently, on January 5, 1886, he was elected Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives.[16][19] Tibbits was also a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention[4] and campaigned across the country for multiple Republican presidential candidates.[5]

From 1872 to 1878, Tibbits was the judge advocate of Connecticut's Third Regimental District, and also was a judge for the City Court of New London.[4] Additionally, Tibbits was on the New London Board of Education and served as city attorney.[5] He served as the Government Director of the Pacific Railroad during Ulysses S. Grant's second term,[4] as well as the Collector of the Port of New London under both the Hayes and Arthur administrations.[5] Additionally, although he ran for the Republican nomination in the 1886 Connecticut gubernatorial election, Phineas C. Lounsbury, who eventually won the election, was nominated instead.[16]

Personal life and death

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Tibbits was a Roman Catholic convert.[16] He married his wife, Lydia Dennis, on February 18, 1869; the two had one son, John Dennis Tibbits.[15]

Tibbits died on July 22, 1893 in New London, Connecticut,[6] after an illness.[16] He was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery.[20]

Notes

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  1. ^ Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives served one-year terms until the constitution was amended in 1884.[2]
  2. ^ His last name is occasionally spelled Tibbitts[1] or Tibbets.[3]
  3. ^ Sources are contradictory as to which family members primarily raised Tibbits; some claim his stepmother,[5] while others claim his grandmother.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Former Speakers of the Connecticut House of Representatives". Office of the House Clerk. Connecticut General Assembly. Archived from the original on September 9, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  2. ^ Satter, Robert (2004). Under the gold dome : an insider's look at the Connecticut Legislature. New Haven, Connecticut: Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-9714608-1-2. Retrieved December 17, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ "The Day (New London, Conn.) 1881-1925". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h A biographical record of the Kappa Alpha Society in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., from its foundation to the present time. 1833-1881. New York: S. W. Green's Son. 1881. pp. 228–229. Retrieved December 13, 2024 – via HathiTrust.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Major Tibbits Passes Away". The Day. New London, Connecticut. July 27, 1893. p. 6. Retrieved December 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c "The Late Major Tibbits". The Morning Journal-Courier. July 24, 1893. p. 4. Retrieved December 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c A record of the members of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, and a city and town directory, 1825 [to] 1892. New York: Press of A. H. Kellogg. May 1892. pp. 132–133. Retrieved December 11, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ a b c d Sawyer, Joseph H. (1875). Alumni records from 1842 to 1874. Springfield, Massachusetts: C. W. Bryan and Company, Printers. pp. 179–180. Retrieved December 13, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ a b c d Page, Charles Davis (1906). History of the Fourteenth Regiment, Connecticut Vol. Infantry. Meriden, Connecticut: Horton Printing Co. p. 442. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  10. ^ "John A. Tibbits Busy Man". The Day. April 24, 1922. p. 3. Retrieved December 17, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Decker, Robert Owen (1976). The Whaling City: A History of New London. Chester, Connecticut: Pequot Press. pp. 280–283, 326–327. ISBN 0-87106-053-1. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  12. ^ "Advertisement". The Day. October 19, 1881. p. 2. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  13. ^ "Downtown New London Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 26, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  14. ^ "Our History". The Day. Archived from the original on July 11, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Moore, William F. (1894). Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894. Everett, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Publishing Company. pp. 600–603. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2024 – via HathiTrust.
  16. ^ a b c d e f "Major J. A. Tibbits Dying". Record-Journal. Meriden, Connecticut. July 20, 1893. p. 1. Retrieved December 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ a b Stone, Greg (July 2, 1981). "Strings of power". The Day. New London, Connecticut. p. 73. Retrieved December 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "The Day 75 Years Ago". The Day. New London, Connecticut. August 18, 1962. p. 8. Retrieved December 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Head of the House". The Day. New London, Connecticut. January 6, 1886. p. 3. Retrieved December 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Borne To The Grave". The Day. New London, Connecticut. July 27, 1893. p. 8. Retrieved December 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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