Schuyler Merritt

American politician (1853–1953)

Schuyler Merritt (December 16, 1853 – April 1, 1953) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives
from Connecticut's 4th congressional district from 1917 to 1931 and 1933 to 1937. He is the namesake of the Merritt Parkway.

He was born in New York City, in 1853, the son of Matthew Franklin Merritt (1815–1896), a Connecticut State Senator, and Mariah Shaw Merritt. His father had also served in the Connecticut General Assembly. He moved with his parents to Stamford, Connecticut, in 1855. His maternal grandmother, Clarissa Hoyt, was descended from the original Hoyts who purchased Noroton Hill more than 300 years before. Schuyler prepared for college at private schools in that city and graduated from Yale College in 1873 and from Columbia Law School in 1876.

In 1877, after graduation from Columbia Law, he joined Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company in the manufacture of locks and keys as an office assistant. He eventually rose to be secretary in 1878, general manager in 1890 and treasurer in 1898. In 1936, Merritt again ran for reelection to the Seventy fifth Congress, but was not elected, losing to Alfred N. Phillips. While in Congress, he served on the Interstate Commerce Committee and was known for his opposition to the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting liquors, and his opposition to the New Deal program for stock market controls. He was an officer of the First Stamford National Bank, since 1902, served as board chairman.

On October 21, 1879, Merritt married Frances Hannah Hoyt (1850–1943), the daughter of Stamford multimillionaire Joseph Blachley Hoyt (1812–1889) and Catherine Krom (1816–1862), and the niece of Oliver Hoyt (1823–1887), a Connecticut State Senator. Together, they were the parents of:

Louise Hoyt Merritt (1880–1956), who married William B. Dalton, and was a friend of Adelaide Crapsey
Katharine Krom Merritt (1886–1986), a pediatrician and co founder of Family and Children's Service. Merritt was a mentor to his niece, Joyce Porter Arneill, who would go on to found the National Federation of Republican Women in 1938 and become an RNC delegate for the 1940 presidential election. Arneill was credited with getting many American women involved in politics in the 1930s and 1940s

Merritt died in Stamford on April 1, 1953, at the age of 99. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery.

The Merritt Parkway, finished on September 2, 1940, in southern Connecticut was named in his honor and his daughter Louise cut the ribbon.