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Lycurgus Edgerton, son of Bela and Phebe (Ketchum) Edgerton.

Charlotte Whiting Perkins, daughter of Jedediah and Lucy (Ingersoll) Perkins.

Children:

1. Charlotte Lucy, b. December 25, 1843; New York City, New York Co., NY.
2. Clara Louisa, b. January 12, 1845; New York City, New York Co., NY.
3. Lycurgus, b. February 1849; New York City, New York Co., NY.
4. Ida Mary, b. July 9, 1853; New York City, New York Co., NY.
5. Minnie Constance, b. January 28, 1856; Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
6. Lycurgus, b. November 3, 1857; New York City, New York Co., NY.

Lycurgus Edgerton was born at Plattsburg, New York on October 28, 1815, the second son of Bela and Phebe (Ketchum) Edgerton.  He was raised in Clinton County, New York and upon his maturity removed to New York City.  He made his living as a dry goods merchant.

Lycurgus Edgerton was married at New York City on April 8, 1840 to Charlotte Whiting Perkins, daughter of Jedediah and Lucy (Ingersoll) Perkins of Norwich, Connecticut.  Charlotte was born at Norwich on October 9, 1824.  Lycurgus and Charlotte had five children:  Charlotte Lucy, Clara Louisa, Lycurgus Jr. (died in infancy), Ida Mary and Lygurgus Jr. (2nd).  They also adopted a daughter, Minnie Constance, who was born in Toronto, Canada.

The household of “Lacargus Egerton” was recorded in the 1860 Federal Census of New York City (Ward 18, District 4), New York County, New York (pg. 473; dwelling #118; family #132; enum. June 13, 1860), as follows:

Lycurgus Edgerton was recorded in the 1870 Federal Census of New York City (Ward 21), New York County, New York residing in the boarding house of Mary B. Sumner (pg. 424; dwelling #74; family #226; enum. July 5, 1870).  He was enumerated as, “Lycurgus Edgerton, aged 55, importer of dry goods, b. in Indiana”.

Lycurgus Edgerton was listed in Trow’s New York City Directory For the Year Ending May 1, 1857 (New York, NY: John, F. Trow; 1857; pg. 250), the entry reading:  “Edgerton Lycurgus, dry goods, 21 Park row, h. Brooklyn”.  His business was also listed, that is “Edgerton L. & Dunning, dry goods, 21 Park row”.

The following family anecdote is related by Ms. Charlotte Hollenberg of Union, Maine, a descendant of Lycurgus’ elder brother, Alfred Peck Edgerton Sr.:

“A story about Lycurgus, whose name means law-giver in Greek, which you may or may not wish to print.  Alfred Peck Edgerton gave him quite a few blank checks to make favorable stock buys telling him about how much to spend.  However, Lycurgus made some bad investments and spent far more than his brother told him he could.  A. P. backed up the checks, but he had to sell some of his best land prematurely.  A few years later,  Lycurgus  was on his way from NYC out West to close a deal that would have made him millions of dollars; unfortunately, he perished of a heart attack on the train before he could close the deal on a leading silver mine.  (This may have been the Comstock Lode in 1859; I was always told so.)  A. P. Edgerton always believed that if his brother had lived long enough to close this deal, Lycurgus would have paid him back what was owed with interest.”

The Historical Collections of Ohio: An Encyclopedia of the State, (Henry Howe, L.L.D.; Norwalk, Ohio: The Laning Printing Co.; 1898; pp. 547-548) provides further details of Lycurgus fiscal dealings with his brother:

“Along early in the seventies Mr. Edgerton [ie. Alfred Peck Edgerton] was worth between $800,000 and $1,000,000, and he was helping his brother, Lycurgus Edgerton, who was doing business in New York.  His brother had only his verbal promise for surety, and when the panic of 1873 саше around and caused him to fail to the extent of $250,000, Edgerton was not legally responsible for his debts.  Nevertheless, he paid everv dollar of them, though in doing so it cost him the larger part of his fortune.  In order to get the ready money he had to sell valuable stocks, such as the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad stock, and others which are now away above par, but which went then at a sacrifice.  Upon Edgerton’s friends urging him not to pay these debts of his brother, stating that he could not be held for them, he replied that the legal obligation made no différence to him.  He had promised his brother that, he would be his surety, and had he made no such promise he would have paid his brother’s debts rather than see his notes dishonored.”

Lycurgus Edgerton died aboard the Utah Central Train near Kaysville, Utah on November 9, 1878 while travelling west on business.  A number of obituary notices appeared in the Fort Wayne newspapers over the following two weeks.  According to sexton’s records, Lycurgus was interred briefly at the Salt Lake City Cemetery, but within a week his body was removed to Fort Wayne for burial in the family plot at Lindenwood Cemetery.

Lycurgus’ wife and children had gone to Paris, France to live several years prior to Lycurgus’ death.  Mrs. Charlotte Whiting (Perkins) Edgerton died at Paris on April 11, 1885; an obituary notice was printed in The Daily Gazette: Fort Wayne, Ind. on Tuesday, April 28, 1885.  Lycurgus and Charlotte’s only surviving son, Lycurgus Jr., died in 1882 while at sea in the Indian Ocean.  The three elder daughters were each married in France.  The adopted daughter, Minnie, was still single at the time of Charlotte’s death in 1885.  There is no further account of the family beyond the aforementioned obituary for Mrs. Charlotte (Perkins) Edgerton.