Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

In 1855, Mr. Mills married Miss Mary E. Hoyt, daughter of Ezra and Hannah (Weed) Hoyt, of Stamford, and granddaughter of Seth Hoyt, a Revolutionary soldier. Eight children blessed this union: Mary E., who married John Tyler, of Maine, and died January 27, 1897; Charles E., a farmer and stone-mason in West- port; Albert W., a farmer and stone-mason, re- siding in Gr°ens Farms; Martha E., who is at home; Edward P., a carpenter at Bridgeport; Hattie A., who married Edward McElwee, a farmer in Westport; and Robert R. and Leroy, who are engaged in farming in Westport. COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 79 COL. WATSON JOHN MILLER, president of the Derby Silver Company, Shelton, was born in Middletown, Conn., November 23, 1849, a son of Watrous Ives and Ruth Lucretia (Prout) Miller. He is descended from notable stock on both paternal and maternal sides, Thomas Miller, one of his ancestors, having come from England about 1630 and established himself in 1660 at Middletown, where he erected and operated suc- cessfully its first mill. Governor Benjamin Mil- ler, another forbear, had the title of Governor of the Colony of Connecticut in Colonial times, and thereby secured to his prominent descendant the right to enroll himself among the members of the Sons of the Colonial Wars. From the ma- ternal branch of his family Mr. Miller is lineally descended from Timothy Prout, who came from England to Boston about 1640, and after resid- ing there some thirty years or more removed to Middletown, Conn., where he took an active part in encouraging many of its most important en- terprises, not the least of which was his. interest in the building of the first sailing vessel ever launched upon the Connecticut river at Middle- town. The subject of this sketch received his educa- tion at the Middletown High School, and later was a student in the Chase Institute, a school, by the way, of unique character, which ranked among the first of its day in excellence and im- portance, and from which many of the most prominent men of this and other States were graduated. From the Chase Institute Colonel Miller repaired to the New Haven Business Col- lege, where he received the foundation of that thorough mercantile training which has subse- quently characterized his successful commercial career. In March, 1868, he first entered into the manufacture of silver-plated ware in his native town, and six years later, in 1874, he re- moved to New York, residing in that city for about five years or so, and continuing there with the Webster Manufacturing Company in the sam*business of silver-plated ware manufacture which he had formerly carried on in Middletown. In the meantime the Derby Silver Company, of Shelton, -Conn., desiring a secretary, treasurer and general manager, and realizing Colonel Mil- ler's value as an organizer and able director, promptly opened negotiations with him with a view to securing his services. A mutually satis- factory conclusion was reached, and in 1879 Col- onel Miller removed to Shelton, where, ten years later, he became president as well as manager of the company, whose capital and surplus is now five hundred thousand dollars, and the growth of whose business is largely due to his rare personal abilities, untiring energy and capable manage- ment. The excellence of the goods made by the Derby Silver Company, and Colonel Miller's long connection and successful association with the concern, place him easily in the first rank of silverware manufacturers in the country. Mr. Miller has repeatedly declined political honors, to the regret of his townsmen, who, on several occasions, have urged him to accept the nomination for representative from the town of Huntington, in which Shelton is located. Upon the election of Governor Coffin, the subject of this sketch was appointed a member of his staff, and, since becoming colonel, has acted in the capacity of aide-de-camp to His Excellency, the Governor, who is at the same time his most hearty friend. Besides having held the promi- nent position aforesaid. Colonel Miller is one of the founders and president of the South End Land Company, president of the Shelton Savings Bank, the Riverside Cemetery Association, the Shelton Building and Loan Association, and a director in the Home Trust Company, the Derby and Shelton Board of Trade, and has succeeded the late Edward N. Shelton as a director of the Birmingham National Bank. He is also a prominent thirty-second degree Mason, a mem- ber of the Mystic Shrine, and also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. Colonel Miller's residence in Shelton is one of the handsomest in the State, and from his charming home he dispenses most hospitable entertainment to his host of appreciative and eminent friends. In 1874, Mr. Miller was mar- ried to Miss Susie J. Waite, daughter of Alonzo Waite, of Chicopee, Massachusetts. WILLIAM F. H. LOCKWOOD, a promi- nent young business man of Greenwich, is the representative of one of the prominent families of Fairfield county, Conn., where his ancestors have figured conspicuously through a period of two hundred and fifty years. Mr. Lockwood is of the eighth generation of the family in America from Robert Lockwood, the immigrant, who came from England and set- tled in Watertown, Mass., in 1630, thence re- moving to Fairfield county, Conn., in 1646. An extensive genealogy of the family prepared some ten years ago shows over four thousand descend- ants of this Robert Lockwood. It also shows that one hundred and forty-seven of them served in the war of the Revolution and earlier wars with the French and Indians, giving the rank of service from private to that of brigadier-general. 80 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. From these descendants have come men who have held honorable places not only on the roll of fame in military lines, but whose genius, tact, intelligence and learning have given them places honorable and high in the professions and busi- ness world. The line of descent of our subject is as fol- lows : Robert Lockwood, the immigrant, Jona- than, Gersham, Nathan, Thaddeus, Ira, Hanford, William F. H. The Lockwood family trace their genealogy as far back as 1465, when Ann, the only daughter of Richard Lockwood, married Thomas Henshaw, who thereby became possessed of a large estate in Staffordshire, England. Lieut. Jonathan Lockwood, of the second generation, and Lieut. Gersham Lockwood, of the third generation, were prominent and influ- ential men of Greenwich, Connecticut. Thaddeus Lockwood, of the fifth generation, was a farmer by occupation. He married and had a large family. He was a good man and citizen, and lived to the advanced age of ninety- three years, dying in about 1812. Ira Lockwood, of the si.\th generation, was born October 19, 1769, on a farm in the town of Greenwich, and resided on the place nearly seventy-seven years. He was a farmer, and one of the most successful ones in the town, though not an e.xtensive one. He commenced life poor, but by his energy, industry, economy and good management he became well off. It is related of him that at one time during the war of the Revo- lution he was standing guard, though not a sol- dier, and one dark night he heard the footsteps of something coming, and three times he called out: " Who comes there .' " No answer coming, he fired, when he discovered he had shot a colt, thinking it was a Tory. He married Clementine Mills, and the marriage was blessed with children as follows: Alva, Lydia, Ira, Ralph and Han- ford, all now dead. Of these, Lydia married Isaa^ Ostrander, of New York City, and had a large family. In his political views Ira Lock- wood (the father) was a Whig. He served as constable and collector of the town of Green- wich a number of years. During the earlier part of his life he and his wife were identified with the Baptist Chtsrch, both later becoming members of the Episcopal Church. Hanford Lockwood, of the seventh generation of the family in the county, and the father of the gentleman whose name opens this sketch, was in many respects quite a remarkable man, a very useful one in the community in which hii long life was passed, as well as a most successful business man and prominent citizen. He was born June 7, 1808, on the farm on which his father before him was born, and was there reared to habits of industry and economy, working on the farm through the summer seasons, and attending the neighboring schools in winters until fifteen years of age, when he went to New York City and be- came a clerk in the employ of William J. Romer, a grocer, receiving for his services five dollars a month. At the close of the first year he had saved more than thirty dollars (which he gave to his father), besides having properly clothed him- self. This was the beginning of a successful business life. Owing to sickness he returned h»me, and there remained two years, working on his father's farm; subsequently he returned to New York and entered the grocery-store of his brother-in-law, Isaac Ostrander, as clerk, receiv- ing eight dollars per month for the first year's work, twelve for the second, and fifteen dollars for the third. Young Lockwood passed the summer in which he became of. age at home, and in the fall and winter following he was engaged in teaching school, receiving for his services twelve dollars per month. In the following spring he engaged to teach for one year the school in what was known as "Nash District," receiving for his services fifteen dollars per month, and " boarding round." In after years he related that he had a good time and made many warm friends. Dur- ing the period of this school work he made the acquaintance of Susan, daughter of James Nash, the man who had engaged him to teach the school, and on October 6, 1830, they were married. In April, 1 83 1, he went to New York City, and there engaged in the grocery business. He con- tinued therein twenty-one years, when he retired from active employment, returned to his native town, and resided on the old homestead where he was born until in February, 1878, when he settled at Greenwich.