Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

of the United States, Travel Club, Ameri-
can Exporters' Association, National
Paint and Varnish Association, Brooklyn
Charities, director of Brooklyn Young
Men's Christian Association, Editorial,
Hue of Three Men Neighborhood Work.
It is always gratifying to any man,
after spending his time and giving freely
of his means to better local conditions
and institutions, to have a great metro-
politan newspaper comment editorially
on his efforts. Mr. Whitney received
such recognition from the New York
"Mail" in the form of a voluntary edi-
torial tribute mentioning him as one of
the three men who had most unselfishly
aided Brooklyn's institutions and given
most of themselves to improve conditions
to a marked degree. Such civic work has
been an inspiring part of Mr. Whitney's
interesting and many-sided career, and
remains to-day in enduring form stamped
on Brooklyn's institutions.
HURD, Alonzo L.,
Physician, Public Official.
The late Dr. Alonzo L. Hurd, of Som-
ers, Connecticut, was not only a leader
in his profession, but a citizen of the first
ranks, for he rendered a service during
his career which any State might well
feel proud of. Bringing to the study of
his profession a general and classical education
of unusual breadth and thorough-
ness, Dr. Alonzo L. Hurd, during his
medical course, acquitted himself with
honor in his classes, and gave promise of
a career of usefulness in his profession
that the passing years and especially the
more than a quarter of a century that he
passed in Somers, Connecticut, amply
fulfilled. He was known in his town and
throughout the vicinity not less as a
public-spirited, progressive citizen than
as a physician of talent and ability. He
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF l!I< >< IRAP1 IV
243
was well known in Somers, and his death
was a great lo-,s to the community and all
those who knew him.
Dr. Kurd's father was Jacob Edward
Hurd, who was born in Sanford, Maine,
in 1831, and died in [918, in Somers, Connecticut.
Me was a farmer of Maine, and
a veteran of the Civil War, having served
in the Fourth Battery of Maine Heavy
Artillery throughout that conflict. He
married Phoebe Samanthe Blake, who
was born in Brownficld, Maine, about
[836, daughter of Benjamin Edward and
Elmira (Rogers) Blake, a member of an
old Xew England family. Vilruveus
Hurd, grandfather of Dr. Hurd, was born
at Oak Hill, now Sanford, Maine, was a
ship carpenter at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, and married Patience Woodworth,
born at Dover, New Hampshire.
Vilruveus Hurd was a son of Jacob Hurd.
born in England, the immigrant ancestor
of the line herein traced.
Alonzo L. Hurd was born in Brown-
field, Maine. August 20, 1858, and there
attended the public schools, graduating
from the high school in the class of 1878.
Immediately entering the University of
Maine, he was graduated in the class of
1882 with the degree of Bachelor of
Science. During 1885 and 1886 he was
a student in the University of New York,
subsequently continuing his studies in
the University of Vermont, receiving the
degree of Doctor of Medicine from that
institution in 1891. For a time Dr. Hurd
was engaged in special work in the hospitals
for the insane of Connecticut and
Massachusetts, and he was also asso-
ciated with Dr. Wentworth, of Lowell,
Massachusetts, for a short time. He
established in practice in Somers in 1891,
and in that place continued his professional
work among a clientele in whose
affection and regard he had become
firmly fixed during the years of his pro-