James Henry Hoyt (April 14, 1809 – December 14, 1873) was a railroad entrepreneur and member of the

Connecticut Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

representing Connecticut's 12th District from 1857 to 1858.

Early life and family

He was born in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

on April 14, 1809, the son of William Hoyt and Sarah Wood. At an early age he was an apprentice to a cabinet maker. He later went into business with his brothers in dry goods and groceries. When he became an adult, he took on the business of his former master, and expanded it into the lumber trade. Beginning in 1831, he, along with his brothers, leased access to the canal extending from the harbor in Stamford into the center of the village. They engaged in shipping and importing for the five-year duration of the lease. After the lease was expired, he returned to the lumber business. On January 31, 1838, he married Sarah J. Grey of Darien. When the railroad was planned to be built through the area, he became a contractor for grading, building bridges, and providing

railroad ties A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer ...

. He was very successful, and became heavily associated with various aspects of the railroad industry, and in 1854 was named as superintendent of the railroad.

References

1809 births 1873 deaths American railway entrepreneurs Democratic Party Connecticut state senators Politicians from Stamford, Connecticut American businesspeople in timber 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-rail-transport-bio-stub