Martin B. Schenck, the founder of an important industry of Meriden known as the M. B. Schenck Company, was born April 29, 1838, in Fulton, New York, a son of John and Hannah (Perkins) Schenck. On the paternal side he was a member in the ninth generation of one of the old New York Dutch Knickerbocker families and traced his ancestry in a direct line from Roelof Martense Schenck, who in 1650 emigrated from Holland to what is now New York and was married in 1660 to Miss Neeltje Gerretse van Couwenhoven, or Conover, as the name is now spelled. Her grandfather was also of Holland birth and came to the new world in 1630. Both families settled in New Amsterdam and later in Flatlands, now Brooklyn, and were prominent in the affairs of the Dutch colony. On the maternal side Mr. Schenck was a descendant of Newman Perkins, who came to America from England with Roger Williams and finally settled with him in Rhode Island. Both the Schenck and Perkins families have throughout the centuries been characterized by sterling qualities and by a patriotic spirit and have given many representatives to the armies of the country in all of the wars in which it has been engaged from Revolutionary war times to the present.

  Martin B. Schenck obtained his education in the common schools and in the Falley Seminary at Fulton, New York, and remained at home until he reached man’s estate. For some time he taught school and later learned the builder’s trade. At the time of the Civil war he put aside all personal plans and ambitions and in 1862 enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment of New York Volunteers and continued in the service until the close of the war, making an enviable record in military service. In 1865 he established a hardware business in Fulton, New York, and devoted his time to the conduct of his store until 1881. Although he met with a gratifying measure of success as a hardware merchant, he realized that there were not great opportunities for advancement in that line and accordingly in 1881 he sold out that business and determined to engage in manufacturing a double wheel caster which he had invented. He removed to New Haven in 1882 and for five years sought to gain a foothold as a manufacturer. He was hampered by his lack of experience, by insufficient capital and by litigation over patents, but in spite of all these obstacles had brought his plant to a paying basis when he suffered a heavy loss by fire. At this time he received promising inducements to remove his factory to Meriden and throughout the remainder of his life he was identified with industrial interests at this place. In 1891, in company with his son, W. A. Schenck, he bought the Beecher Manufacturing Company’s plant, which they devoted to their needs. As the years passed they made many improvements and had a number of well constructed and modernly equipped factory buildings. The plant extends six hundred feet along the main line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and thus has the best transportation facilities. The company’s products include five distinct lines of casters suitable for use on all kinds of furniture and trucks and for a third of a century the Yale caster, as it is known, has been recognized as standard not only in America but abroad.

  Mr. Schenck was married in 1866 to Miss Margaret W. Anthony, of Troy, New York, and they became the parents of two children, a son, William A. Schenck, and a daughter, Jessie M. Schenck, now the wife of Louis H. Perkins. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when Mr. Schenck passed away on the 5th of November, 1911.

  From the time he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Schenck supported the candidates of the republican party at the polls, and as a member of the famous organization known as the Wide Awakes he took an active part in the campaign of 1860. Four years later he again voted for Lincoln, sending his ballot home from the war in an envelope. He belonged to Merriam Post, No. 8, G. A. R., and found great pleasure in thus keeping up his association with other veterans of the Civil war. He read much of the world’s best literature and also traveled extensively both in America and in Europe. His residence, which is situated on Broad street, is one of the most attractive homes in the city and the spirit of hospitality prevails there. The important manufacturing interests which he built up were proof of his business acumen, his resourcefulness and enterprise, and the high esteem in which he was held personally testified to his worth as a man.