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Maria Hotchkiss Founder of The Hotchkiss School Maria H. Bissell Hotchkiss Family Discoveries After her husband Benjamin’s death in 1885, Maria Harrison Bissell Hotchkiss became a benefactor, as the founder of The Hotchkiss School. Her story of triumph after tragedy is a familiar one in her family. Melville Bissell (Maria’s Maria Hotchkiss third cousin, once removed), was the inventor of the Bissell carpet cleaner and founder of the Bissell Company that is still family-owned today. When Melville died in 1889, his wife, Anna, took over the company and became the first female CEO in America. Both of these amazing women contributed much to innovation and education in America. *Maria and Melville’s common ancestors are Isaac Bissell, born in 1682, and Elizabeth Osborn, born in 1684, both in Windsor, CT. Further information from Ancestry.com
HOTCHKISS MAGAZINE EDITOR’S NOTE: The Hotchkiss history, Hotchkiss: A Chronicle of an American School, states on p. 3: “There had been prominent Bissells in Litchfield County since the eighteenth century, and Harrison cousins in Ohio – in what was once Connecticut’s Western Reserve – had already produced one, and, in Maria’s lifetime, would produce a second U.S. president.” However, the Ancestory.com genealogists who researched the possible Maria Harrison Bissell Hotchkiss connection to President Harrison have determined that there is not enough evidence to confirm the connection. The genealogists who worked on this research did say that the surname of Harrison is found in many states in New England, except, surprisingly, New Hampshire. And in 1790 there were at least 374 Harrison families that appeared in the census.
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nicity, and to seek community with distant, perhaps unknown, relatives,” he said. And, with the addition of a family tree feature to the site, he pointed out, members have made billions of connections with other members who potentially share a common ancestor. Facilitating those searches would not have been possible without the Internet. But when Sullivan arrived at Hotchkiss, following in the footsteps of his brothers Stephen ’76 and Scott ’78, as did sister Christine ’82 later, a career in technology was not on his radar, still being several years in the future. And Hotchkiss may not have been in the cards either had it not been for his brother, Steve, who had heard about Hotchkiss and was determined to attend. While his parents were a little skeptical, Steve persevered and convinced them that Hotchkiss offered a unique opportunity. That was 1973 and since then seven Sullivans have attended the School. “Our entire family was just so lucky to find Hotchkiss.” And, “I was lucky to have had two brothers precede me at Hotchkiss,” said Sullivan, who entered the School as a lower mid. “By the time I arrived, I knew that Hotchkiss was all about getting involved in things that you cared about, even if they were new to you.” The year was 1978, the Vietnam War had ended, movie theatres were showing “Grease,” the Bee Gees were singing “Stayin’ Alive,” and, in the Mischianza of that year, most of the boys were wearing their hair longer than today’s male students. And, while current fashions were tolerated, Hotchkiss was not only a place to expand but also more significantly, a place of academic rigor. One lesson Tim took away with him from Hotchkiss is the importance of an education where one learns how to read, think, and write. He believes he learned those skills particularly from “Uncle” Roy Smith, who taught Shakespeare, and George Norton Stone, who taught math. “These men were teaching at such a high level of expertise, passion, and commitment; it was truly inspiring to have the chance to learn from them.” Sullivan, also known to his friends at Hotchkiss as “Sully,” worked on the Hotchkiss Record during his stay and competed on the wrestling and football teams. “I was the smallest guy on the varsity football team my senior year, and even though my playing time on Saturdays was pretty thin, I enjoyed the whole experience.” In a poll conducted by fellow students at the end of senior year that included such categories as “Most Radical Student,” “Best Auditorium Speaker” and “Favorite Class Expression” (“Bag-It!”), Tim Sullivan was voted “Most Likely to Succeed,” a prediction yet to be realized. When he graduated from Hotchkiss in 1981 and entered the University of North Carolina as a Morehead scholar, his goal was to pursue a career in medicine. But there were epic changes on the horizon, ones that would impact Sullivan’s life. In 1981, IBM introduced its first PC, and the Internet was about to take the stage. While pursuing a pre-med path through his freshman year at UNC, he switched direction and became a political science major. After graduation and marrying Jane Bowen, a fellow student at UNC, Sullivan moved to Boston to work on an MBA at Harvard. Two years later, with an MBA in hand, he took a position as a senior financial analyst with the Walt Disney Company in California in the home video group; he later moved to Hong Kong to help set up an office in Asia. “It was a booming business,” he said, “but then the Asian economic climate took a nosedive and video piracy exploded in the region. In turn, the business imploded.” On looking back he realized that, “Learning to manage in crisis stayed with me longer than managing in the boom.” Recognizing the rise of the Internet, Sullivan next joined Ticketmaster