Ratcliffe Hicks
Ratcliffe Hicks (1843–1906) was an American lawyer, industrialist, state legislator, and philanthropist from Tolland, Connecticut. The family home is now the Hicks-Stearns Family Museum. The Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture at the University of Connecticut and the Hicks Memorial Municipal Center and Library in Tolland are named after him. Life Born in Tolland on October 3, 1843, Ratcliffe was the eldest son of Charles R. Hicks (1812–1878), a prominent merchant from Providence, Rhode Island, and later New York City, and Maria A. Stearns (1815–1905). His grandfather on his mother's side was a judge and state legislator from Tolland. His grandfather on his father's side was a successful sea captain. Ratcliffe attended the Monson Academy and the Williston Seminary preparatory schools and graduated with honors from Brown University in 1864. He was a founding member of the Delta Upsilon chapter at Brown. Returning to Tolland, he became a schoolteacher while studying law under local judge and politician Loren P. Waldo. After passing the bar, Hicks practiced law in Meriden and Hartford, including three years in the law offices of U.S. Senator Orville H. Platt. Hicks became a prominent attorney, litigating important cases and earning over $10,000 annually in legal fees, equivalent to $280,000 in 2020 dollars. Hicks served in various public offices throughout his life. He served as City Attorney of Meriden (1869–1874) and Attorney for New Haven County (1873–1876). In 1866 he was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly, the youngest legislator at that time, and remained in office for twenty-nine years. He was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1891, Hicks chaired the House Committee on Women's suffrage and supported a bill granting women the right to vote in local school board elections. When passed, it became the first such law enacted in New England. He also spoke against capital punishment. Hicks' father-in-law passed away in 1881, and Hicks became the executor of the Stearns estate. In 1882, Hicks withdrew from his law practice to become president of the Canfield Rubber Company of Bridgeport. By 1896 he had built the company into a manufacturing enterprise with $250,000 in capital (versus a mere $10,000 in 1882) and $1 million in annual sales. During this commercial period, Hicks made twenty voyages to Europe, chiefly to sell his rubber to overseas concerns. Hicks married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Canfield Parker (1844–1889) on December 17, 1879. She was the widow of Wilbur Parker and daughter of Jared and Mary Canfield of Middletown, Connecticut. The Hickses had one daughter, Elizabeth, born February 19, 1884. Mrs. Hicks died in Paris on June 7, 1889. Ratcliffe remarried on October 19, 1895, to Isabella Wormer of Chicago. Isabella sued for divorce in September 1896 on the grounds of "intolerable cruelty." The divorce was granted along with alimony of $50,000 in cash in early 1897. Ratcliffe Hicks died of pleuropneumonia in Interlaken, Switzerland, in 1906. Philanthropy During his lifetime, Hicks established annual prizes for public speaking at Brown University, Storrs Agricultural College (later the University of Connecticut), and Meriden