Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

wich ; Sphinx Temple, Ancient Arabic
Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ;
Bigelow
Chapter of the Eastern Star, of which
he is past patron. He is past thrice illus-
trious master of Wolcott Council ; past
thrice potent master of Charter Oak
Lodge of Perfection ; past patron of the
Order of the Amaranth, and past grand
patron of the Amaranth of the State of
Connecticut.
HUGINS, Charles Ozro,
Business Man, Public Official.
One of the oldest continuous undertaking
establishments in Connecticut was
that conducted by Charles O. Hugins, of
Collinsville. Mr. Hugins was born May
9, 1858, in West Granville, Massachu-
setts, son of Ozro and Sarah Cordelia
(Marcy) Hugins, and died March 10,
1919, at his home in Collinsville.
The business was founded by Bradford
Marcy, grandfather of Mr. Hugins, and
has been in the family for four genera-
tions. At one time it was the only under-
taking business within a radius of twelve
miles and its members were known
throughout the State. Ozro Hugins,
father of Charles D. Hugins, was a greatgreat-grandson
of Zachariah Hugins, who
came from England and settled on the
Housatonic lowlands in the town of Sheffield,
Massachusetts. He was a farmer
and also lived in Tyringham, Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, where his son,
Ebenezer Hugins, was born. The latter
was a farmer of Sheffield most of his life,
but died in Granville, Massachusetts. His
son, Ozro Hugins, was born in Sheffield,
Massachusetts, in 1829, and died in Collinsville,
Connecticut, in 1889. He grew up on
the farm, but did not follow the occupation
of farming, going instead under the in-
struction of Bradford Marcy, who had
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
114
established in the undertaker's business
in 1846. Mr. Marcy taught him the cabi-
netmaker's trade, and also the undertak-
ing business, instructing his apprentice in
that branch from the making of the coffin
to the final rites. He remained with Mr.
Marcy (whose daughter he married) as
journeyman, then as partner, and when
the founder of the business passed away
succeeded him. Ozro Hugins was a se-
lectman of West Granville for two years
was a member of Village Lodge, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, of Collinsville
; Columbia Chapter, Royal Arch Ma-
sons ; and in politics was a Republican.
He married Sarah Cordelia Marcy, daugh-
ter of Bradford Marcy, and they were the
parents of two children : Charles O., of
further mention, and Clara, who became
the wife of A. A. Cushing, of Collinsville,
Connecticut, where she now resides.
Charles Ozro Hugins was a lad of
seven years when his parents removed to
Collinsville, and with the exception of five
years spent in New Haven, Connecticut,
(at which time he was superintendent of
the Hendrick's Manufacturing Company
there) it has been his home. He was
educated in the public schools, but from
boyhood worked with his father in the
shop, and literally grew up in the cabinetmaking
and undertaking business. He
became an expert worker in wood, that
being the part of the business first
learned. Later he learned the duties of
undertaker and funeral director and con-
ducted his first funeral when he was but
sixteen years of age. Upon the death of
his father he succeeded to the ownership
and management of the undertaking business
first established by Bradford Marcy
\n 1846. Mr. Hugins was the first under-
tdker in his section of the State to abandon
the practice of making his own coffins
and use the ready made caskets now in
;