USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 2 > Part 25
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ANTON REUSS, who in his lifetime was one of the best-known and most highly-respected Ger- man citizens of Meriden, was born in Bomberg, Bavaria, Germany, March 20, 1825. While he was in his infancy his father died, and this made it necessary for him to early take up the responsi-
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bilities of life. When still a boy he learned book- binding, but this trade, while a fairly good one, was not sufficiently lucrative to satisty the ambi- tious youth. Wishing to better his condition, and seeing no opening in his native land, he deter- mined to come to America. Accordingly he made preparations for the trip, and boarding a sailing vessel in 1850, made the voyage to New York, where for a time he engaged in making pocket- books and similar goods. After a short time he came to Meriden, Conn., where in connection with Walter Hubbard he engaged in the manufacture of morocco leather cases. Later the firm branched cut, adding to their list of products plush and chamois cases. Mr. Renss conducted the business for a long time on Butler street, and had as his assistant Julius Knell, who later conducted a simi- lar business on his own account. In 1890 MIr. Reuss sold out to C. E. Schunack, and passed the remainder of his days in retirement. His death occurred Nov. 6, 1893, at his home on Butler street, and his remains were buried in the West cemetery.
Mr. Reuss was one of the first German settlers in Meriden, and was held in high esteem by his countrymen, as well as by all who knew him. In his religious belief he was a faithful and consist- ent follower of the teachings of the immortal Lu- ther. In politics he was a Republican, but in no sense an office seeker. Fraternally he was a mem- ber of Meridian Lodge, No. 77, A. F. & A. M .; Keystone Chapter, No. 27. R. A. M .; and St. Elmo Commandery, No. 9, Knights Templar. He was also a member of the German Mutual Aid Society, and was a stanch supporter of German schools.
Mr. Reuss was twice married. His first wife, Katharine Magdalena Mueller, was born March 2, 1826, in Germany, and passed away June 5, 1890. They had three children, Charles, Anton and Julius, all of whom died young. For his second wife Mr. Reuss wedded, on June 8, 1892, Mrs. Catharine Mueller, widow of Joseph Mueller, and daughter of Philip and. Barbara Stephans. No children were born of this marriage. Mrs. Reuss resides at her home in Butler street. She is an active worker in Esther Lodge, Daughters of Rebekah, of which she is the only living charter member, and is a noble woman, highly respected for her many good qualities of head and heart.
JOSEPH MUELLER was born June 15, 1828, in the city of Nassau, Germany, where he grew to manhood. In 1854 he came to America and located in Meriden, where he was engaged in the burnish- ing business, being several years employed by the Meriden Britannia Co., and for several years super- intendent of the burnishing department of C. Rog- ers & Bros. His death occurred Jan. 6, 1891. In 1857 he married Catharine Stephans, who was born Oct. 18, 1831. in Bomberg, Germany, and of this union two children were born, Catharine and Joseph, Jr. Catharine was married June 29, 1899,
to James B. Smith, who was born in New Haven in 1872, son of James B. and Emily ( Plumb ) Smith, the former a wholesale grocer in New Ha- ven, where he and his wife died. James B. Smith is engaged in the banking and brokerage business in New Haven. Politically he is a Republican ; fraternally a thirty-second-degree Mason, being a Knight Templar, and a member of chapter and council ; and religiously a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Smith is is a mem- ber of Esther Lodge, Daughters of Rebekah. In religions faith she clings to the church of her an- eestors. the Lutheran. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have ' one child, Kathryn Miller. Joseph Mueller, Jr .. was born Aug. 8, 1860, and was educated in the public schools. For a time he was bookkeeper for C. Rogers & Bros., was subsequently in Ballard- vale, Mass., in the employ of Craighead & Kintz, and later in Pittsburg, Pa., with the Pittsburg Lamp Co., and in Allegheny, Pa., in the manufac- ture of the "1890 Varnish Removing Fluid." In 1890 he returned to Meriden to look after his father's estate. He died Oct. 31, 1897, at his fa- ther's late home, and his remains rest in Walnut Grove cemetery. He was a member of the I. O. O. F. in Pittsburg, and like the rest of his family was a member of the Lutheran Church.
In his political faith Joseph Mueller, Sr., was a Democrat, and a stanch supporter of his party. Fraternally he belonged to Pacific Lodge. No. 87, I. O. O. F., of Meriden. In his religious faith he was a Lutheran. In his business relations he was a man of highest integrity.
JAMES HENRY FOY. Among the list of dis- tinguished and imperishable names of those who passed from life during 1900, that of James H. Foy brings to the people of New Haven a feeling of deep regret, that so wise and generous a man should no longer be in their midst.
James H. Foy was born at Gardiner, Maine, and died at his home in New Haven, Conn., in Novem- ber, 1900, in his seventy-second year. The beginning of his business career was in Worcester, Mass .. but he removed to Boston in 1861. There his business was known as D. B. Saunders & Co., manufacturers. of corsets. In 1871 he came to New Haven, and immediately engaged in manufacturing under the firm name of Harmon, Baldwin & Foy, this business being later removed to New York. At the time of his death he was a member of the R. A. Tuttle Co ... of Boston, dealers in corset materials.
Both Mr. Foy and his wife were members of the Davenport Avenue Congregational Church, be- coming connected with it in 1872, and he was a member of the board of trustees, in which capacity, on account of his business sagacity and generous liberality, he was of the greatest service to the church. Of a retiring disposition, he always shrank from any prominence, but always could be found at the post of duty. Mr. Foy was a life member of
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the Good Will Home Association, and had been a contributor to the Home since the beginning of this charity. In the fall prior to his death, he gave $5,000 to the Home to make up a deficit, and gave, by will, still another $5.000, making the James H. Foy fund at the Good Will Farm, $10,000.
In 1858, at Hudson, Conn., Mr. Foy was married to Lavinia H. Jenks, a daughter of Rev. Hervey Jenks, the latter a native of Brookfield, Mass., a noted divine, of Welsh ancestry. The paternal fan- ily of Mrs. Foy traces its ancestry to 150 B. C., while on the maternal side, her great-great-great- grandmother was a daughter of Roger Williams. The first marriage of Mrs. Foy was to Marvin Har- mon, at New Lebanon, N. Y., and George M. Har- mon, of New Haven, is her son. Mr. Harmon died in Brookfield, Mass., in 1854.
Mrs. Foy is a lady not only of education and cul- ture, but also of mechanical genius. Interested in her husband's business, in 1862, she invented and patented what is known to the trade as the Madam Foy Supporter, and there were eight infringements upon the patent, which were all prosecuted. The merits of the article attracted general and favorable notice at once and its demand and popu- larity have steadily increased from year to year, until it now has a world-wide reputation. Being constructed on scientific principles, yet simple and practical, it answers fully the object for which it was intended. Improvements have been made on it from time to time and it is now covered by seven letters of patent, of the United States, and is manu- factured by C. N. Chadwick & Co., of Brooklyn, New York.
Since 1884, Mr. Foy had been a director of the New Haven County Bank, by whom the following resolutions were adopted at the time of his death :
"The directors of the New Haven County Na- tional Bank, assembled this day, learn with deep regret of the death of their highly esteemed asso- ciate and fellow member. Mr. James H. Foy, and in expression of their sorrow, be it
"Resolved, That while we bow to the will of a Divine Providence, we sincerely deplore the de- parture of one, who for many years has been asso- ciated with us in the management of the affairs of this bank.
"Resolved, That by his removal we have sus- tained the loss of a conscientious and upright citi- zen, an able adviser and one whose superior quali- ties of heart and mind have endeared him to all.
"Resolved, That our attested copy of these reso- lutions, with our deepest sympathy, be sent to the bereaved family, that they be published, and that a copy be spread upon the records of this bank. New Haven, Nov. 15, 1900. Attested, H. G. Redfield, secretary."
favorably known as one among the city's leading business men and substantial citizens, has descended from one of Connecticut's earliest families.
John Warner, the first of the line on this side the Atlantic, at the age of twenty years came from England with the party who sailed in the ship "In- crease" in 1635. He became one of the original pro- prietors of Hartford in 1639. In 1637 he performed service in the Pequot war. In 1649 he married ( sec- ond ) Ann, daughter of Thomas Norton, of Guilford. Mr. Warner became an original proprietor and settler of the town of Farmington, Conn. He united with the church there in 1657, and was made a freeman in 1664. In 1673 he went to view Matta- tuck ( Waterbury), to ascertain if it was a desirable place to settle, and was a patentee of that place in 1674. It was his intention to remove thither, but he died in 1679, leaving a widow, Margaret.
John Warner, a descendant of the John War- ner mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, was a captain in the Connecticut State Guards, and served in Gen. Waterbury's State Brigade, assisting in the defense of the sea coast in 1781. The long hill between Plymouth and the township, now known as Thomaston, was for many years called Warner Hill in his honor. From him our subject is descended through John Warner, Jr., Abijah Warner and Gaius Fenn Warner. Abijah Warner married Betsy Fenn, a sister of Elam Fenn, who lived and died at the place now occupied by his son Jason Fenn.
Gaius Fenn Warner was born in 1811, in that part of the town of Plymouth known as Town Hill, in Litchfield county, and was the youngest of three children. He was but six years old when his father died, and until his marriage remained at home with his mother. At the age of twenty-one he wedded Harriet Jackson, of Bethlehem, that county, and the young couple settled in their own home on the same road as his mother's, a little to the south. For about three years Mr. Warner worked the farm, a small one, and then moved to Waterville to take charge of a large boarding house for the employes of a button factory there, continuing thus two years. His two daughters, Helen and Harriet, were born during his residence in Plymouth, his son, Henry A., in Water- ville. During the two years of the boarding house experiment Mr. Warner built for himself a com- modious house (near his former home), into which he moved, and again took up a small farm, also tak- ing charge of the turnpike road between Waterbury and Plymouth. Evidently farming was not to hiis mind, for in 1843 he moved back to the town of Plymouth, locating in Terryville in the eastern part, where he kept a temperance hotel, a novelty at that time, which he maintained, however, in the face of all opposition, at the same time carrying on, in an extended ell of his house, the manufacture of um- brellas. But it was not until about the year 1847 that he found his life work. In his capacity of host
HENRY A. WARNER. capitalist and real es- tate dealer, whose business career from boyhood has been passed in New Haven, where he is widely and | at his hotel he met a man who was in the business 1
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of manufacturing malleable iron castings, and who so urged him to enter this work that he finally de- cided to return with him to Straitsville and inves- tigate for himself. He soon moved his family to that place, and so well succeeded in the new venture that when the buildings were burned to the ground he removed the works to New Haven, many of the principal workmen going with him. In this line he had the monopoly, and his was the largest concern of the kind in the country. Mr. Warner passed the remainder of his long life in that city, active alike in commercial, religious and benevolent circles, and widely known and beloved.
It was during Mr. Warner's residence in Terry- ville that the Congregational Church in that village was built, and he threw his superb energies and strength into that enterprise. He hauled much of the timber from the woods to the mill, and from there to the church lot. At "raising day" all the town turned out to help, and afterward all were served, as was the custom of the time, to dough- nuts, raised cake and cider. When he removed to Straitsville, at that time a very small village, Mr. Warner greatly deplored the fact that no regular church services were held there, and he very soon made arrangements whereby theological students from New Haven should preach in the small chapel each Sunday for the sum of ten dollars and their board. His house was freely opened for their ac- commodation, and very often the compensation also was largely given from his own pocket. As he grew in prosperity he was ever ready to respond to num- erous calls for benevolence, both public and private, which were made upon him, notably that of Home and Foreign Missions, growing stronger each year of his life. Mr. Warner was a man of few words, while ever friendly to those who were so fortunate as to possess his love and confidence, and he showed a true and loyal heart, to be relied upon in any ex- tremity. In his family he was the faithful husband, the kindest of fathers, and his house was ever open to all his friends.
In the year 1860 Mr. Warner decided to build a house for himself, and chose a lot of one and one- half acres in the center of the city, opposite Yale College, where he erected the substantial house now occupied by the Union League Club, in the rear of which is now the Hyperion theatre, and on the western side Warner Hall and the apartment build- ing for students, erected and managed by his son, Henry A. Warner. It was characteristic of him, when questioned quite anxiously by a member of the college faculty as to his venture so carefully to lay out this acre and more of ground, stocking it with fruit trees, a grapery and ornamental shrubs, lest he should suffer invasion by mischievous boys of the college, to reply: "I shall not molest them, and I don't think they will trouble me," and they never did. After moving to his new home he gave his best Christian efforts to the welfare of the College Street Church, which building joined his
land on the eastern side, and was an earnest helper and exemplary member until his death, in October, 1870. He died as he had lived, in full trust and faith in his Saviour and God, since when, in 1837, during a strong religious movement throughout the entire country, he and his young wife united with the Church in Plymouth Center.
Henry A. Warner was born March 10, 1842, at Waterville, in the town of Waterbury, and was six years old when the family settled in New Haven. There, in the public and private schools, he received his education, and was prepared for a business ca- reer. For many years he was an iron manufacturer, and he has since dealt in vitrified drain and sewer pipe, in which line his efforts have met with de- served success. Returning East after the Chicago fire, Mr. Warner stopped at Akron, Ohio, and there found a make of pipe which had not been introduced East, where imported Scotch pipe and a slip glaze pipe from New Jersey were in use. However, they were soon superseded by the Ohio pipe, which Mr. Warner introduced and sold throughout New England. For many years Mr. Warner received royalty on all pipe made from this clay. He has also dealt extensively in real estate, and is the pro- prietor of the Warner Hall Bachelor Apartments, at No. 1044 Chapel street, designed to furnish select apartments to college students and others.
Mr. Warner was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude E. Morton, daughter of Horace J. Mor- ton, long a prominent carriage manufacturer and wealthy citizen of New Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Warner's religious connections are with the Ply- mouth Congregational Church, of New Haven, which was formerly the College Street Church, of which he was a deacon. Mr. Warner's political affiliations are with the Republican party, but while ever interested in politics and public affairs he has kept aloof from party warfare, and has never held public office. He is a member of the Union League Club (formerly the Republican League), Sons of the American Revolution, Chamber of Commerce, Country Club, and has served as a member of the Second Company, Governor's Horse Guard.
HENRY T. WILCOX (deceased), for many years a leading citizen of Meriden, was born in Westbrook, Conn., Feb. 7, 1811. His early educa- tion was obtained at the district schools of his na- tive town. Being the second member of a numerous family of children, he was obliged to seek his own living at an early age ; and when less than twelve years old was employed on the farm of his grand- father, Joseph Bushnell, who died in 1824. After that event Mr. Wilcox was for a time a sailor ; but in 1829 he came to Meriden to take a position in the comb factory of Julius Pratt & Co., which he held for several years. That same year he united with the Congregational Church, and as long as he lived was numbered among its devoted and efficient mem- bers.
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On May 9, 1832, Mt. Wilcox was married to Elizabeth White Scovil, of Meriden, and their son, Henry Scovil Wilcox, was born in Meriden, Jan. 4. 1835. The following year Mr. Wilcox bought 1 piece of land of Lewis Hotchkiss. on the Old Col- ony Road, and this has been the family home- stead to the present time. About 1845 Mr. Wilcox built a small shop a short distance south of his resi- dence, where he manufactured coffee mills, steel- yards, spring balances, door knockers and bit braces. This shop was destroyed by fire in 1851, and a second shop on the same site was burned two years later ; whereupon Mr. Wilcox sold his coffee mill business to Charles Parker, and associated hin- self with the Meriden Hardware Co., then estab- lished on the site of the present plant of M. B .. Schenck & Co. For a time Henry T. Wilcox was president of this company, and Henry S. (his son) the secretary and bookkeeper. They severed their connection with it, and in 1855 bought a grocery store in the building now occupied by Campbell's Pharmacy, where they conducted a prosperous busi- ness under the name of H. T. Wilcox & Co. In 1857 they brought the business down town, and lo- cated it in a brick block which had been built by James F. G. Andrews about 1847, which was also occupied by the Almon Andrews flour and feed store. This building was consumed by fire March 9, 1864. H. T. Wilcox & Co. bought the land and ruins of the old building and erected the present brick block, which H. S. Wilcox sold to Merriam Post, G. A. R., in 1895. The north store of this block was occupied by Hart & Foot, drug and hard- ware merchants; and the south store by H. T. Wil- cox & Co., grocers.
Early in 1867 Hart & Foot sold their business to H. T. Wilcox & Co., who then had the oldest drug business in the town. Ten years later they sold the hardware business to Church & Sprague, but re- tained the drug store, together with paints, oils and manufacturers' supplies. After the death of his father, in 1885, Henry S. Wilcox continued in the same business until he was compelled to dispose of it on account of his own ill health, E. A. Watrous succeeding him March 15, 1899, in the store where Mr. Wilcox had carried on an unbroken business for thirty-two years.
In the public affairs of the town the Wilcox men, both father and son, took an important part. Henry T. Wilcox was town treasurer from 1863 to 1874, and Henry S., from 1878 to 1879. Some years later the latter served as councilman, as assessor, and was a member of the board of compensation and the board of relief.
While a school boy, Henry S. Wilcox used to work in his father's shop, making packing boxes, and doing various kinds of work out of school hours. After securing a good education at the Old Road district school and the West Meriden Insti- tute, the latter kept by Henry D. Smith and David N. Camp, he became his father's bookkeeper and so
continued until the shop burned in 1851. His place in the business world in connection with his father has already been described, as has also his place in municipal affairs.
Henry S. Wilcox took an active interest in fi- nancial affairs, and in 1886 was made trustce of the Meriden Savings Bank, becoming a director of the same institution the following year. Mr. Wilcox was quite as zealous in the church as he was in busi- ness. He became a member of the First Congrega- tional Church in 1852, and from time to time was entrusted with important offices, being the secretary and treasurer of the Sunday-school, and of the Ec- clesiastical Society. In 1889 he was honored with the office of deacon, which he filled until his decease. He was the last clerk of the Old Ecclesiastical So- ciety, and assisted in the incorporation of the Church, his son, Albert H. Wilcox, afterward becoming clerk of the re-organized Church. Al- though of a quiet and retiring nature, Henry S. Wilcox was widely known and respected. He was at one time a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, his maternal great-grandfather, Amos White, having been a soldier with Washington at the crossing of the Delaware. Some four years prior to his death, his health began to decline, by reason of blood and liver troubles, which caused his death, Dec. 8, 1900. Mr. Wilcox married Jane E., a daughter of Ira Merriman, who, with his son, Albert H., survives him.
The Wilcox family begins its history in New England with John Wilcox, who was an original proprietor of Hartford in 1639. He held the posi- tion of surveyor of highways and died in 1651, his widow surviving until about 1668. Their children were: John, who married Sarah Wadsworth, Catherine Stoughton, Mary (surname not known), and Esther Cornwall ; Sarah, who married John Bid- well, of Hartford; Ann, who married John Hall, then of Hartford, but later of Middletown.
John Wilcox, Jr., noted in the preceding para- graph as having had four wives, moved from Hart- ford to Middletown, where he died May 24, 1676. His children were as follows: Sarah, born in 1648: John; Thomas; Israel, born June 19, 1656, married Sarah Savage, about 1677, and died Dec. 20, 1689; Samuel, married Abigail Whitmore; Ephraim mar- ried Silence Hands ; Esther and Mary.
The children of Israel and Sarah (Savage) Wil- cox were as follows: Israel, born in 1680, married Mary North ; John married Mary Warner ; Samuel married Hannah Sage; Thomas, born July 5, 1687, married Ann North, June 28, 1716, and died Jan. 20, 1726-7; and Sarah. Mrs. Israel Wilcox died about Feb. 8, 1723-4.
The children of Thomas and Ann ( North) Wil- cox, of Middletown, were as follows: Martha; Thomas, born Oct. 5, 1720, married Freelove Brad- ley, May 16, 1744, and died Nov. 9, 1778; Jonathan ; and Hannah.
The children of Thomas and Freelove (Bradley)
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Wilcox, of Guilford, Conn., were as follows: Clo- tilda, the wife of Samuel Hoyt, died in 1795, at the age of fifty years; Tamson, born in 1747, married Elizabeth Dowd, and died Sept. 15, 1820; Edmund, born in 1748, married Elizabeth Scranton, and died March 9, 1795 ; Billy, born in 1750, married Rebecca Hoyt; Jonathan, born in 1753, married Elizabeth Todd, and died in 1818; Samuel Dodd, born in 1756; Benjamin B., born in 1759, married Mary Todd, and died in 1805.
The children of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Todd) Wilcox, of Madison, Conn., were as follows: Cur- tis, born March 9, 1775, married Wealthy Hill, and died Aug. 15, 1829; John, born April 5, 1777, mar- ried Electa Goodrich ; Amos Todd, born 1779, mar- ried Cynthia Bushnell, and died in 1849; Elizabeth, born Feb. 22, 1782, married David Nash; Henry, born July 22, 1785, married Janet Bushnell Dec. 31, 1808, and died in May, 1842; Matilda, born in 1788, died Oct. 22, 1809; Sarah, born Feb. 20, 1789, married George Pratt ; Jonathan Samuel, born Nov. 1, 1791, married Chloe Hand, and died Feb. 10, 1875; Augustus B., born Oct. 4, 1794, married Clarissa Jewett, and died May 19, 1844. Mrs. Jonathan Wilcox died Sept. 29, 1833, at the age of seventy-nine years.
The children of Henry and Janet ( Bushnell) Wil- cox, of Westbrook, Conn., were as follows: Will- iam Titus, born Aug. 23, 1809, married Minerva Gaylord, and died in 1868; Henry Truman, born Feb. 7, 1811, married Elizabeth White Scovil, and died Jan. 7, 1885; Jonathan Samuel, born in Janu- ary, 1813, married Dolly A. Southworth, and died Sept. 24, 1900; Emily Patience, born in 1815, had three husbands, John Wilmarth, Ransom Gaylord and Charles Spencer, and died about 1881 ; Curtis Nash, born in 1817, married Elizabeth Hall, and died April 3, 1874; Benjamin Bushnell, born Sept. 28, 1819, married Eliza A. Brainard, and died March 19, 1900; George Frederick, born in 1830, is supposed to have died in the western regions of the United States.
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