Governor Charles Hobby Pond

CHARLES HOBBY POND, Connecticut’s 20th governor was born in Milford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1781. He graduated from Yale University in 1802, studied law, and was admitted to the bar; however, he never practiced due to ill health. Pond took an extended sea voyage, where he regained his health. Returning home, Pond served as an associate judge of New Haven County Court from 1818 to 1819 and again from 1836 to 1837, and he served as sheriff of New Haven from 1820 to 1834. He was elected lieutenant governor of Connecticut in 1850, 1852, and 1853. On October 13, 1853, Governor Thomas H. Seymour resigned from office, and Pond, who was lieutenant governor at the time, assumed the duties of governor. During his tenure, the U.S. Senate passed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which caused great controvery throughout the state. (The act made slavery legally possible in a vast new area and revived the bitter quarrel over the expansion of slavery, which had died down after the Compromise of 1850, hastening the start of the Civil War.) Pond did not seek reelection and left office, retiring from public service. Governor Charles H. Pond died on April 28, 1861, and is buried at the Milford Cemetery.