SEYMOUR  C. LOOMIS

Lawyer and writer of note, an art connoisseur, a scientist and a statesman in his grasp of affairs, yet without desire for public office, Seymour C. Loom is has exerted marked influence over public opinion along many lines. He was born in Suffield, Connecticut, November 12, 1861, a son of George Wells and Mary Ellen (Norton) Loomis, and is a lineal descendant of Joseph Loomis who came from Braintree, England, to Boston in 1638 and to Windsor, Connecticut, in 1639, an original settler of this state.

Mr. Loomis graduated from the Connecticut Literary Institute with valedictorian honors in the class of 1878 and on the completion of his preparatory course entered Yale, receiving the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1882. He remained through the succeeding two years as a law student at Yale and, after winning the LL. B. degree cum laude in 1884, was admitted to practice. He at once opened an office in New Haven. No dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost immediately he came into prominence and his law practice today exceeds that of almost any other attorney of the city. His is a natural discrimination as to legal ethics and being grounded in logic and accuracy he is so well read in the law and his preparation of the facts is so thorough that he is able to base his arguments upon knowledge of precedents and to present a case upon its merits, never failing to recognize the main point at issue. The year after beginning practice in New Haven he was chosen assistant city clerk and filled that position for two years, and at the same time was editor of the City Year Book. He also acted as city clerk in 1885 during the illness and after the death of the (then) city clerk.

Mr. Loomis was married on the 22nd of April. 1892, to Miss Catharine Canfield Northrop, of New Milford, Connecticut.

He was executive secretary of Connecticut in 1893-1895 and performed for several of the state departments during those years the duties now done by the attorney general. He is chairman of the committee on new business of the Connecticut Bar Association and a member of the council for Connecticut of the American Bar Association. He is one of the board of managers of the Sons of the American Revolution and in club circles of New Haven is well known, belonging to the Graduates', Country and Congregational Clubs, and to the Yale Club of New York city. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church and he is actively identified with many organized charities. He is not learned in the law alone, for he has studied long and carefully the subjects that are to the statesman and the man of affairs of the greatest import—the questions of civil government, finance, political economy and sociology—and has kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age. In fact, he is a recognized leader of public thought and opinion. Prominent in the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, he is serving as chairman of its public health and sanitation committee. He belongs to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and for five years has been and still is secretary of the section on economic and social science. He is historian of the Governor's Staff Association of Connecticut. He is the representative of the provost marshal general in the fifth New Haven division in connection with the draft for the war against Germany. A supporter of the principles which underlie representative government, he was from the beginning of the war in Europe in 1914, a stanch advocate of preparedness on the part of the United States in maintaining its own rights and those of its citizens and in preventing the overthrow generally of government by the people.
 

Mr. Loomis has won national recognition through his writings, which cover various legal subjects, the tariff and many matters of governmental concern. He is likewise often called upon to speak upon the questions of the day. In his leisure hours he finds interest in his prints, paintings, curios, pamphlets and books, and his collection is large and valuable.