Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/466

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432
JEWELL
JEWETT

member of the legislature, removed to Hartford and established the leather-belting business. The son learned the trade of a tanner under his father's supervision, and in 1847 went to Rochester, N. Y., where he also learned the art of telegraphy, then in its infancy. Eor three years he followed this calling in Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi, and the southwestern states. In 1850, his father's business having increased, Mr. Jewell was recalled to Hart- ford, becoming a partner of his father and brothers, and remaining so until his death. It was very largely through his energy and business capacity that the business grew into its subsequent impor- tance. He was among the earliest members of the Republican party in Connecticut. In 1868 he was a candidate for the state senate, without success, and was also nominated for governor of Connecti- cut, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1869 he was again nominated, and was elected. In 1870 he was defeated by James E. English, but he was again elected in 1871 and 1872. Mr. Jewell's administration of the state government was marked by various legislative and executive reforms. Among these were the reorganization of the state militia, a change in the laws concerning the mar- ried woman's right to property, the laws of divorce, the government of Yale college, biennial elections, and the erection of the new state-house at Hart- ford. He was appointed minister to Russia in 1873, and during his mission negotiated a conven- tion protecting trade-marks. It was due to the investigations of Mr. Jewell, and the information that came from his knowledge of the leather in- dustry, that the method known as the Russian pro- cess of tanning was introduced into the United States. In August, 1874, Mr. Jewell was recalled from his mission and made postmaster-general. He gave Benjamin H. Bristow his warm support in the latter's whiskey ring prosecutions, and was also favorable to Mr. Bristow's aspirations for the presidency. When Mr. Bristow left the cabinet, Mr. Jewell also resigned. It was the policy adopt- ed by Mr. Jewell as postmaster-general, which brought him into antagonism with certain ele- ments in both parties, that led to the star-route trials, and many wholesome reforms in the postal system. Mr. Jewell's return to Connecticut was made the occasion of public demonstrations, espe- cially in Hartford. He gave Mr. Hayes his warm support, and in 1879, when he became a candidate for the senate, was defeated by only two votes in the caucus. In 1880, when Gen. Grant was a can- didate for nomination, Mr. Jewell declined to take an active part in the convention, for the reason that while not in favor of Gen. Grant's candidature, he would not, having sat in his cabinet, openly op- pose him. Gen. Garfield was nominated, and Mr. Jewell was made chairman of the National Repub- lican committee, conducting the canvass that re- sulted in Garfield's election. This was Mr. Jewell's last public service. The labors of the canvass made serious inroads upon his health, and, return- ing to Hartford, he gave his attention to the busi- ness which his father had founded, and in which he was associated with his brothers, Pliny, Lyman, and Charles. — His elder brother, Harvey, b. in Winchester, N. H., 26 May, 1820 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 8 Dec, 1881. As a boy Harvey learned the tanning trade with his father, but afterward en- tered Dartmouth college, where he graduated in 1844. He then taught in Boston, at the same time studied law with Lyman Mason, and was ad- mitted to the bar, 1 Oct., 1847. Mr. Jewell's special faculty was the drafting of contracts, charters of incorporation, and preparing causes for trial. He gave special attention to maritime law. He took an active part in the politics of Massachusetts as an old Whig, and later as a Republican. He was a member of the municipal councils of Boston in 1851 and 1852, in 1861 was elected to the legisla- ture of Massachusetts and served for several terms, during four of which he was speaker of the house. In 1871 he was a candidate for the governorship of Massachusetts. Gen. Butler was also a formidable candidate, and, for the purpose of defeating the latter, Mr. Jewell withdrew from the canvass. In 1875 President Grant appointed Mr. Jewell judge of the court of commissioners of Alabama claims, which office he held two years, when he returned to Boston and resumed the practice of law. Dart- mouth gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1875.


JEWETT, Isaac Appleton, author, b. in Bur- lington, Vt., 17 Oct., 1808 : d. in Keene, N. H., 14 Jan., 1853. He svas graduated at Harvard in 1830, studied law, and practised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterward in New Orleans, La. He was the author of " Passages in Foreign Travel " (Boston, 1838), and " The Appleton Memorial" (1850).


JEWETT, John Punchard, publisher, b. in Lebanon, Me., 16 Aug., 1814; d. in Orange, N. J., 14 May, 1884. He was employed when a boy in a book-store and bindery in Salem, Mass., became a partner in the business, and about 1849 established himself in Boston. He was a member in 1835 of the first anti-slavery society in New England, and wrote many controversial articles for the newspapers. His firm brought out in 1852 the first edition of Mrs. Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin." They also published Maria S. Cummins's " Lamplighter," and other popular works. He was a personal friend of Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Gov. John A. Andrew, and John A. Whittier. After losing his property in the panic of 1857, he went to Europe in 1862 in order to introduce a patent, and there became interested in a process of making lucifer-matches, and on his return established a factory in Roxbury, Mass. In 1867 he removed to New York city. — His brother, Charles Coffin, bibliographer, b. in Lebanon, Me., 12 Aug., 1816 ; d. in Braintree, Mass., 9 Jan., 1868, was graduated at Brown in 1835, taught two years in Uxbridge academy, and studied theology at Andover, where he was for a time librarian of the seminary, and prepared a catalogue of the library. He intended to become a missionary in the east, and while at Andover made a special study of oriental languages and antiquities. After graduation, in 1840, he took charge of an academy in Wrentham, Mass. He was appointed librarian of Brown university in 1841, rearranged and catalogued the library, and in 1843 became professor of modern languages. The catalogue, published in 1843, attracted much attention. He went to Europe for study, and to inspect the library system of other countries, purchased many books for the department of Greek and Latin literature, also the works of classical French, German, and Italian authors, and after his return filled the two offices till 1848, when he became librarian and assistant secretary of the newly organized Smithsonian institution. He prepared an extended report of the public libraries of the United States, which was published as an appendix to the annual report of the Smithsonian institution for 1850. In advocating the policy of devoting a large part of the income of the institution to library purposes, he took issue with Prof. Henry, the secretary, and other officers. He perfected a system of cataloguing by stereotyping separately the title of each work in a library. When the building of the Boston public library was com-