1880 - Valentine Hicks Hallock, Seedsman

I was digging for the Boston seedsman M. B. Faxon on the web tonight when an ad on the following page caught my eye.  I am such a sucker for highly detailed engravings I immediately switched from Faxon to this gent - V.H. Hallock!  I had to write something about him, especially after I found his full name was Valentine Hicks Hallock. 

ad from 1891 - The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine

This is as large as I have it. Not the best quality but readable.  

Note V.H. Hallock's home to the right. 

Below is his son's house.

His son was a respected plant breeder involved in improving  gladioli.

There is nothing like a good obituary to quickly fill in some details of a person's  life.  They also give you a feeling for the times in which he lived.  A comment by the writer was, "He lived and died the consistent life of a gentleman.".

Obituary: Valentine Hicks Hallock
Valentine Hicks Hallock, senior member of the firm of V. H. Hallock & Son, died at his home, Queens, N. Y., April 17, aged 85 years, having been born in 1822 at Milton, N. Y., where his ancestors had lived for 250 years.  

At the time of his death he owned property that had been in his family for 175 years. Mr. Hallock belonged to the Milton community of Quakers, famous for its support of the government during the trying times of the civil war.  From the first he took an advanced position in agriculture and small fruits, also in blooded sheep and cattle.  

Through some dealings with C. L. Allen, of Floral Park, N.Y., he drifted into the bulb business and he was identified with the firm that bore his name for 30 years but took no active part in its affairs. At one time this firm was perhaps the most extensive grower and dealer in bulbs and roots, such as lilies, tuberoses, dahlias, gladioli, etc. 

It was during this time that the firm imported the nucleus of the present strain of Gladious Childsii which was developed into a large and merchantable collection by E. V. Hallock, the junior member of the firm and disposed of by John Lewis Childs, after whom the strain and important varieties were named.

Mr. Hallock was a mechanical engineer of considerable ability and of an inventive turn of mind. At one time he was superintendent of the power, mechanical work, etc., connected with a large Brooklyn warehouse. 

He lived and died the consistent life of a gentleman. He always believed in the integrity of his fellowman and above all he was a good Christian man in every sense of the word.
Funeral services were held April 20, interment at Westbury, N. Y.

These glads, introduced by John Lewis Childs of Floral Park, New York, were developed by Edward V. Hallock, a  son of Valentine Hallock.