Nelson W. Aldrich

Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich was a prominent American politician and a leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, where he served from 1881 to 1911. By the 1890s he was one of the Big Four key Republicans who largely controlled the major decisions of the Senate.

Aldrich was born in Foster, Rhode Island, into a middleclass family descended from noted English immigrants John Winthrop, William Wickenden, and Roger Williams. His branch passed through generations of declining circumstances. His father was Anan E. Aldrich, a mill hand, and mother Abby Burgess. He attended public schools in East Killingly, Conn. and the East Greenwich Academy a boarding school in Rhode Island.

Source: Wikipedia