Joseph Pratt Allyn

Joseph Pratt Allyn was born in Hartford, Connecticut on 9 March 1833. He was the eldest sone of Timothy Mather and Susan Ann Pratt Allyn. Due to an illness he was educated privately. In the 1850's he was associated with the Hartford Carpet Company. His friendship with Gideon Welles secured him a post in Washington, D.C. and he wrote letters on political affairs which were published in the "Hartford Evening Press" under the pen name of "Putnam." He also used the pen name after he was appointed Associalte Judge of the Territory of Arizona. Under the pseudonym "Putnam" he wrote letters to the "Evening Press" describing his journey to Arizona and the situation there. On his return to Hartford he went to Egypt for his health and, eventually, returned to Paris where he died on 24 May 1869. He left a sum of money to the city of Hartford for a statue to be erected in Bushnell Park. The statue of Isreal Putnam, by John Quincy Adams Ward, a sculptor, still stands in the park, near the Capitol building. He never married.