admin JOHN COTTON JEWETT, who died at Los Angeles, California, on the 18th of February, 1904, was one of the most distinguished of the pioneers of industrial Buffalo.
He was born in Moravia, Cayuga County, N. Y., February 2nd, 1820., In his boyhood John C. Jewett led the life of a typical, farmer’s lad.. When about seventeen years old, he went to Ann Arbor, Mich., where his brother Samuel was engaged in mercantile business. Entering his brother’s store, young Jewett showed such talent for his occupation that he was soon made a partner.
February 2, 1843, Mr. Jewett married Priscilla Boardman of Ann Arbor. At the time of her marriage Miss Boardman was only in her seventeenth year. Her strong, womanly character was, however, clearly manifest. She was a woman of noble Christian attributes and of unusual mental powers. The children of this marriage were: Edgar Boardman, Carrie Amelia, Matilda Caroline, Ella, Frederick Arthur, and Mabel.
Mr. Jewett later removed from Ann Arbor to Albion, Mich., where he conducted a mercantile business. In 1849 he came to Buffalo, beginning with a small manufacturing concern, which steadily grew to be one of the great manufacturing industries of the land. Today the John C. Jewett Manufacturing Company sends refrigerators to every section of the United States and to many foreign countries; for forty years, dating from the inauguration of his first factory in Buffalo, the history of John C. Jewett was the history of the immense industry he had reared. His efforts were ably seconded by his sons, Edgar B. and Frederick A. Jewett, and by his son-in-law, Risley Tucker.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I