Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

is a Republican in politics, and a member
of the Congregational church.
Dr. Hamblin married, August 30, 1906,
Beulah, daughter of Samuel and Cassan-
dra Clement. Dr. and Mrs. Hamblin are
the parents of a son, Francis, born May
4, 1908.
WAGONER, William Richard,
Business Man.
We give the name of public benefactor
to the man who donates large sums of
money to hospitals, asylums and other
public institutions. We laud the man who
gives his life to scientific research. We
honor the man who foregoes wealth or
privilege to follow a life of self-abnegation.
But there is a class of men from
whom, perhaps, we withhold honor when
honor is due. The purveyor of the daily
necessities of life receives scant apprecia-
tion for his services to mankind. His is
a most exacting business for at least two
reasons ; because there is no seasonal re-
laxation, and because he meets his trade
as one who serves, not as an autocrat who
has his convenience in his own power.
But surely, no less than a public benefac-
tor is the man who conscientiously sup-
plies the townspeople with good food,
when he uses every precaution to safeguard
the health of his patrons. In the
town of Collinsville, Connecticut, Wil-
liam Richard Wagoner stands in such a
relation to his fellow-citizens.
The name of Wagoner is derived from
the occupation of its progenitors, the evi-
dence of this surviving in the present
form and spelling of the name. In the
days when names were originated the
man who made any article of so great im-
portance as a wagon was a man of high
standing in the community. This was
due to the fact that he had dealings with
the landed people who were, ot course,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
68
more wealthy than the peasantry, and
were, indeed, the only people who had use
for vehicles or money with which to buy
them.
Richard Wagoner, father of William
Richard Wagoner, was born in Hessen-
Nassau, March 13, 1840, and died Decem-
ber 31, 1910. He learned the trade of
butcher in Germany, a trade which his
direct ancestors had followed for five or
six consecutive generations. He came to
America in 1861 and took up his residence
in New York City. After follow-
ing his trade there for a year or two he
came to Collinsville and started in the
butcher business. That was in the days
before this line of business had been concentrated
into the hands of a comparatively
small number of concerns who
practically control the industry. It was
also at a time when much stock was
grown in New England for home consumption.
Mr. Wagoner killed and
dressed his own beef, pork, and mutton,
and cured his own hams and bacon, turning
out far more delicate smoked meats
than can be found in the market to-day.
His skill as a butcher was far-famed.
There are men now living who can remember
the occasion when, in twentyone
minutes from the time he knocked a
steer in the head, the carcass was hang-
ing in quarters from the hooks. He did
a large business, buying his own live-
stock, and covering territory extending
forty miles from Collinsville. He was a
member of the Village Lodge of Masons,
of Collinsville. His wife, Catherine
(Draude) Wagoner, was born in the same
town in Germany as he was, but their
children were born in America. The
children are : Louise, who married William
H. Crowley; Mary, who married
Michael J. Crowley; Louis; Theresa;
William Richard.
Catherine ; Clara ; and
Richard Wagoner's father never came to