Isaac Hill Bromley was an American lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, editor, politician, railroad director, possibly most notable as a humorist.

Biography

Isaac Hill Bromley was born on March 6 1833 in Norwich, Connecticut

Norwich, Connecticut

Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...

. He was educated at Yale

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, but left in the November of his sophomore

Sophomore

Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...

 year, but was awarded a degree in 1868.

He studied law at Norwich and New Haven

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

 and was admitted to the bar in 1854. In 1855 he edited a weekly newspaper, The State Guard in Norwich, where he married, on December 25, Miss Adelaide E. Roath. In January 1856 he formed a law partnership, but was soon diverted from it by his chosen profession, editorial journalism, and never returned to it. He was made Assistant Clerk of the State House of Representatives in 1856, Clerk in 1857, and Clark of the Senate on 1858.

In November 1858 he moved to Norwich and began the publication of a new paper, The Bulletin. In August 1862 he enlisted in the 18th Connecticut Volunteers and was commissioned as Captain. He served for most of his time as Provost Marshal

Provost Marshal

The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...

 of the Third District of Connecticut

Connecticut's 3rd congressional district

Connecticut's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the central part of the state, the district includes the city of New Haven and its suburbs as well as surrounding areas....

 until his resignation in March 1964. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature from Norwich.

In 1868 he moved to Hartford

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

 and took editorial control of the Evening Post, with which he continued until 1972. In February 1873 he joined the editorial staff of the New York Tribune

New York Tribune

The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...

and remained with that paper for ten years. In the meantime, in June 1873, he was appointed by President Arthur

Chester A. Arthur

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...

 as one of the Government Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

. After a series of brief editorial engagement with the Commercial Adventurer and the Evening Telegram of New York, and the Rochester Post-Express, he became in 1884 Assistant to the President of the Union Pacific Railroad, and held that office until 1889. In October 1891, he resumed editorial work on the New York Tribune, and continued in active service until a few months before his death.

In April 1898 after several years of poor health, he became seriously ill, and in June was removed to the Backus Hospital

Backus Hospital

The William W. Backus Hospital is a 213-bed, not-for-profit, acute care community hospital in Norwich, Connecticut.The hospital was founded in 1893 by William Wolcott Backus and William Albert Slater, in response to the region's growing healthcare needs....

 in Norwich, where he died from neuritis on August 11, in his 66th year.

His Yale University obituary describes him thus: "A trenchant writer, gifted with a style of unusual brilliancy and unique in its quality of wit, he ranked easily among the leaders of his profession in his generation and was as warmly beloved as he was admired.

External links

• "Our Chauncey." After dinner rhymes, 1891, by Isaac H. Bromley, from the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  
• Isaac H. Bromley, 1920, by Norris Galpin Osborn, from the Internet Archive