Howard Wells Alcorn (born Suffield,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, May 14, 1901; died

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, Connecticut, August 10, 1992) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. In his long career he served as the Speaker of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with each ...

in 1931 and Chief Justice of the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit i ...

from 1970 to 1971.

Early life

Born in

Suffield, Connecticut Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region, and located in the Connecticut River Valley. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

, Alcorn was the eldest son of Hugh Mead Alcorn (1872–1955),

state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Hartford County Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains t ...

from 1908 to 1942, and his wife Cora (Wells) (1874–1961). His younger brother H. Meade Alcorn Jr. (1907–1992) was a Republican politician and strategist who served as chairman of the national party during

Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

's presidency. Howard graduated from the Suffield School in 1918 and from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1923. After attending law classes at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, he was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1926.

Political and judicial career

Alcorn, a Republican, represented Suffield in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1927 to 1931, serving as Speaker in 1931. In 1932 he was elected as a state senator and served as Minority Leader. In Suffield he was a founding member of the Zoning Commission and served as chairman from 1928 to 1943, as well as on several other local bodies. From 1929 to 1943 Alcorn served as judge of the Suffield town court. In 1942 he served as executive secretary to Governor Raymond E. Baldwin, and in 1943 Baldwin nominated him for a Superior Court judgeship. After serving there for eighteen years, he was nominated for the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1961 and served there until his mandatory retirement in 1971, for the last year of that time as Chief Justice. After his retirement he continued to serve as a state trial referee until 1984, presiding as grand juror in a major corruption probe in

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

in the 1970s.

Personal life

Alcorn married Bertha "Bird" Pinney (1902–2004); they had three daughters, Carolyn Childs, Elizabeth Holt, and Terry Foster.Bertha Alcorn obituary, ''Hartford Courant'', September 2, 2004, p. B8

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcorn, Howard W. 1901 births 1992 deaths People from Suffield, Connecticut Connecticut lawyers Dartmouth College alumni Republican Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Speakers of the Connecticut House of Representatives Harvard Law School alumni Yale Law School alumni 20th-century American lawyers Judges of the Connecticut Superior Court Chief justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court 20th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly