Julius Hotchkiss

Julius Hotchkiss was a United States representative from Connecticut. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, the son of Woodward and Polly Hotchkiss, Prospect farmers. At seventeen, he taught in Prospect schools. He later moved to Waterbury and ran a store and a factory that made cotton webbing and suspenders.

Personal life

In 1832, he married Melissa Perkins with whom he had five children and were members of The New Church.

Public office

Hotchkiss was nominated by both parties to be the first mayor of Waterbury in 1853 when it was incorporated, shifting to the Democratic Party when the Whigs had dissolved. In 1851 and 1858, he served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. He was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth Congress. After leaving Congress, he was the 55th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut in 1870. He died in Middletown in 1878 and was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery.