Background
William Bishop was born on Seprember 14, 1827, in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, the son of Alfred and Mary (Ferris) Bishop.
lawyer politician railway official
William Bishop was born on Seprember 14, 1827, in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, the son of Alfred and Mary (Ferris) Bishop.
William graduated from Yale in 1849.
After graduation Bishop shortly became a director of the Naugatuck Railroad, which Alfred Bishop, who was a railway contractor, had built through the Naugatuck Valley of Connecticut from Bridgeport to Winsted. W. D. Bishop was first made superintendent of this road and then in 1855 was chosen to its presidency. He was elected in 1857 a Democratic member of the Thirty-fifth Congress; and when he failed of reelection was appointed United States commissioner of patents by President Buchanan. During his brief term as commissioner (1859 - 1860), he is said to have done good service, especially in putting in order the Patent Office records and in systematizing the work of his subordinates.
In May 1866 Bishop left the presidency of the Naugatuck to take up that of the New York & New Haven. Under his régime, the New York & New Haven acquired both the Hartford & Connecticut Valley and the Harlem & Port Chester, and leased the Shore Line. With this consolidation, the road became increasingly powerful. So late as 1885 there were as many as twenty-two railroads in Connecticut; and it must be said that from the earliest days of railway building in the state the influence of the numerous separate companies, as they contended or united with one another in order to control legislation and obtain special privileges, had been far from beneficial in public affairs.
While he was executive head of the New York & New Haven system, Bishop was admitted to the Fairfield County bar (1870), represented Bridgeport in the General Assembly (1872), was a state senator, 1866, 1877, 1878, and had a conspicuous part in general railway legislation. Extensive and thoroughgoing improvements were made by him in local railroad conveniences at Bridgeport. He was a director of the Bridgeport Steamboat Company, operating between Bridgeport and New York; and also of the Housatonic Railroad, extending from Bridgeport to Pittsfield, Massachussets.
In March 1879 Bishop retired from the presidency of the New York & New Haven, but until his death he remained upon the board of directors. In 1883 he was once more called to be president of the Naugatuck, and he held this office until his retirement in October 1903. Although in over a half-century of busy life he engaged in many activities, yet primarily he was a railroad man, and it was in problems of railway construction and management that he found his chief interest. His formal practise of the law was largely confined to a few patent cases of more or less importance.
William Bishop was a member of the Democratic party; the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1866 and 1871; the U. S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th district from 1857 to 1859.
Bishop was a founder of the Eastern Railroad Association and its president until the time of his death.
In 1850 Bishop married Julia A. Tomlinson of Bridgeport.