Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (December 26, 1837 – November 6, 1922) was an American politician, businessman, and sports executive. A Republican, he served in the American Civil War, and became a Hartford bank president before becoming the third president of the

Aetna Life Insurance Company Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans ...

, a post he held for 43 years. He was elected to the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

in recognition of his role as the first president of the National League. Bulkeley served on the Hartford City Council and was a four-term

mayor of Hartford The following table lists the individuals who served as mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, their political party affiliations, and their dates in office, as well as other information.Kevin FloodMayors of Hartford HartfordHistory.net (retrieved April ...

. He later served as the 54th Governor of Connecticut for two terms and as a United States Senator.

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 Reverend Peter Bulkeley, eight generations removed. Peter Bulkeley was a founder of Concord, Massachusetts and sailed to North America from England on the ship Susan & Ellen in May 1635. Morgan Bulkeley's mother, Lydia Smith (Morgan), descended from passengers of the Mayflower more than 200 years prior. He was educated at

Bacon Academy Bacon Academy is a public high school in Colchester, Connecticut, in the United States. In 1800 a prominent Colchester farmer, Pierpont Bacon, died and left an endowment of thirty-five thousand dollars (with buying power equivalent to that of abou ...

in Colchester. In 1846, the Bulkeley family moved to

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. 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 The president of Harvard University is the chief academic administration, administrator of Harvard University and the ''Ex officio member, ex officio'' president of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Corporation. Each is appoi ...

, 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 Legends: Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley
, Aetna, April 4, 2003 Bulkeley left Hartford to work for his uncle's company, H. P. Morgan & Company, in Brooklyn,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was an errand boy in Brooklyn in 1852 and later worked as a salesman. During the Civil War, Bulkeley served as a private with the 13th New York Volunteer Heavy Artillery.''Register, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States''. J. Harris Aubin. Boston. 1906. pg. 44. He served from May 28, 1862 until September 28, 1862. He served under General George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign and later under General

Joseph K. Mansfield Joseph King Fenno Mansfield (December 22, 1803 – September 18, 1862) was a career United States Army officer, civil engineer, and a Union general in the American Civil War, mortally wounded at the Battle of Antietam. Early life Mansfield was ...

. His brother, Captain Charles E. Bulkeley, was killed during the war. He became a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States by right of inheritance from his brother, who would have been eligible for membership had he lived. 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 The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully- professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 se ...

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.Morgan Bulkeley biography
- Baseball Hall of Fame web site. Retrieved on December 31, 2006. 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 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

, 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 Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

that Abner Doubleday invented baseball. Brazilian Aeronautical Commission

Politics

Bulkeley's short career as a baseball executive coincided with the beginning of his political career. From 1874 to 1876, he served on the Hartford Common Council and the Board of Aldermen.Biography
at the ''

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress The ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' (Bioguide) is a biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the United States Congress and its predecessor, the Continental Congress. Also included are Delegates from ...

''. Retrieved on December 31, 2006. When

Thomas O. Enders Thomas Ostrom Enders (November 28, 1931 – March 17, 1996) was an American diplomat. His father, Ostrom Enders, was president of the Hartford National Bank, and his uncle, John Franklin Enders, was the 1954 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Med ...

resigned Aetna's presidency due to ill health in 1879, Bulkeley became the company's third president. In 1880, Bulkeley ran for both mayor of Hartford and ran as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Connecticut. He lost the lieutenant gubernatorial race but won the mayoral race and was Hartford's mayor from 1880 to 1888. As mayor he became known for his flamboyant generosity; for instance, arranging steamboat trips on the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

for underprivileged children, using his own money.Aetna Legends: Morgan G. Bulkeley
, Aetna, May 2, 2003 While mayor of Hartford, on February 11, 1885, Bulkeley married Fannie Briggs Houghton in San Francisco, California. They had two sons and a daughter. In 1882, Bulkeley was the Republican nominee for governor of Connecticut. In 1888, Bulkeley again ran for governor. In the election,

Luzon B. Morris Luzon Buritt Morris (April 16, 1827 – August 22, 1895) was an American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. He served as the 55th governor of Connecticut. Biography Morris was born in Newtown, Connecticut. He prepared for college at the C ...

accumulated more votes than Bulkeley but neither had the required 50%. In accordance with the rules of the time, the General Assembly decided the winner and the largely Republican body chose Bulkeley. Although he did not run in 1890, the vote was so close and fell into such disarray due to ballot irregularities in Bridgeport that officials did not certify the results, and the Connecticut House of Representatives and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, each led by opposing parties, could not agree on a legal successor. When Bulkeley refused to recognize the Democratic candidate as the victor, the Democratic state comptroller changed the lock on an anteroom that led from the governor's office to the Statehouse. When Bulkeley found the door locked the next morning, he broke in with a

crowbar A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially, in Britain and Australia sometimes called a jemmy or jimmy (also called jemmy bar), gooseneck, or pig foot, is a tool ...

, earning the nickname the "Crow-Bar Governor". When the legislature refused to appropriate money for state government operations because of the deadlock, Bulkeley, who also happened to be president of Aetna Life Insurance Co., had his company pick up the state's bills until the next election. Bulkeley remained in office two more years, and the state Supreme Court unanimously held that he had been the lawful governor for the disputed period of time. Bulkeley later served one term in the U.S. Senate from 1905 to 1911, as part of the " Millionaires' Senate" of 1906, so named for the wealth of its members.

Death and legacy

Morgan Bulkeley died in Hartford at age 84 and was interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery. 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 B. Brainard Morgan Bulkeley Brainard (January 8, 1879 - August 28, 1957) was an American attorney, insurance executive, and book collector. He served as president of Aetna from 1922 to 1956, following his uncle Morgan Bulkeley. Brainard was a director of th ...

, who led Aetna for the following 35 years. Bulkeley's widow, Fannie, died on June 22, 1938.

Memberships

He was a member of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

, Grand Army of the Republic, Sons of the Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution,

Society of Colonial Wars The Society of Colonial Wars is a hereditary society composed of men who trace their descents from forebears who, in military, naval, or civil positions of high trust and responsibility, by acts or counsel, assisted in the establishment, defense, ...

and the Military Order of Foreign Wars. In 1894 he was elected as a Hereditary Companion of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States by right of inheritance from his brother, Captain Charles E. Bulkeley, was killed during the Civil War.

Legacy

The Hartford Bridge over the

was renamed the Bulkeley Bridge in his honor in 1922 after his death.Bulkeley Bridge, Bridge No. 980A
- Connecticut's Historic Masonry Arches. Retrieved on December 31, 2006. Morgan G. Bulkeley High School, which opened in Hartford in 1926, was also named for him. In 1928, Clarkin Field in Hartford was renamed Morgan G. Bulkeley Stadium in his honor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulkeley, Morgan 1837 births 1922 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople Aetna employees American bank presidents American people of English descent American people of Welsh descent Baseball executives Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut) Businesspeople from Hartford, Connecticut Republican Party governors of Connecticut Mayors of Hartford, Connecticut Military personnel from Connecticut National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees National League presidents People from East Haddam, Connecticut People of Connecticut in the American Civil War Republican Party United States senators from Connecticut Union Army soldiers Bacon Academy alumni