Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley

Who was Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley?

Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley was the first president of the Aetna Insurance Company.

After graduating from Yale and practicing law, Eliphalet A. Bulkeley became a banker, a town representative to the state legislature, a state senator, a state's attorney and judge of a minor court, all in central Connecticut. Bulkely became the president of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, founded in 1846, the first life insurance company in Connecticut.

In 1847, Bulkeley became director and general counsel of the Aetna Insurance Company. In 1850, when a subsidiary Annuity Fund was formed to sell life insurance, Bulkeley was named its administrative head. Judge Bulkeley's sons Morgan and Charles worked cleaning the office.

When Annuity Fund was reorganized in 1853 as the Aetna Life Insurance Company, Bulkeley became its first president. When the Panic of 1857 caused many Aetna stockholders to talk of dissolving the company, Bulkeley refused; his prudent management, tough underwriting, and conservative pricing led to Aetna's survival.