Morgan Bulkeley

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Morgan Bulkeley bigraphy, stories - Union Army soldier

Morgan Bulkeley : biography

December 26, 1837 – November 6, 1922

Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (December 26, 1837 – November 6, 1922) was an American politician as well as business and sports executive. Bulkeley, a Republican, served in the American Civil War, was a Hartford city councilman and bank president, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the first president of the National League, and became a four-term mayor of Hartford, the 54th Governor of Connecticut for two terms and a United States Senator while serving as the third president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company for 43 years.

Early life, career and war

Bulkeley was born in East Haddam, Connecticut to an old local family. His father State Senator Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley was a descendant of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, 8 generations removed. Peter Bulkeley was the founder of Concord Massachusetts and sailed to this country from England on the ship Susan & Ellen in May of 1635. Morgan Bulkeley’s mother Lydia-Smith Morgan descended from passengers of the Mayflower more than 200 years prior. The Bulkeleys had called nearby Colchester, Connecticut their home and until Morgan’s death always believed it as such. He was also related to the well known Morgan family through his mother. He was educated at Bacon Academy in Colchester just like his father and his cousins on both sides. In 1846, the Bulkeley family moved to Hartford, Connecticut. Morgan’s father, Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley, was prominent in the Connecticut Republican Party and helped found the Aetna Life Insurance Company, becoming its first president in 1853. He was also a descendant of the third President of Harvard University, Charles Chauncy. Morgan Bulkeley attended Hartford Public High School and, at age 14, started working at the Aetna sweeping floors for a dollar a day along with his brother, Charles."", Aetna, April 4, 2003

Bulkeley left Hartford to work for his uncle’s company, H. P. Morgan & Company, in Brooklyn, New York. He was an errand boy in Brooklyn in 1852 and later worked as a salesman. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bulkeley enlisted with the Thirteenth New York Volunteers as a private for the Union Army. He served under General George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign and later under General Joseph K. Mansfield. His brother, Charles, was killed during the war.

After the Civil War, Bulkeley returned to Morgan & Company. When his father died in 1872, Bulkeley returned to Hartford and helped form the United States Bank of Hartford, becoming its first president. He later served on Aetna’s board of directors.

Baseball

After returning to Hartford in the early days of professional baseball, Bulkeley formed the Hartford Dark Blues of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in 1874. In 1875, the team featured Hall of Fame pitcher Candy Cummings and player-manager Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson. In 1876, the NAPBBP was replaced by the National League. Hartford was one of the charter members and Bulkeley was named the league’s first president. In his only season as president, he targeted illegal gambling, drinking and fan rowdiness. – Baseball Hall of Fame web site. Retrieved on 2006-12-31. After the season, he was replaced as president by William Hulbert. Bulkeley was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1937, 15 years after his death. He was also one of the seven members of the Mills Commission formed by Albert Spalding, the group that gave credence to the myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball.

Death and legacy

Morgan Bulkeley died in Hartford at age 84. At the time of his death, Bulkeley had been the president of Aetna for 43 years and had increased its assets from $25.7 million to $207 million and from 29 to 1,500 employees. Under his guidance, Aetna had been transformed from a life insurance company into a company that offered accident, health, automobile,workers compensation, and group insurance. He was succeeded by his nephew, Morgan Brainard, who led Aetna for the following 35 years.