Jonathan Samuel Wilcox was born on November 1, 1791, in East Guilford, New Haven County, Connecticut, the son of Jonathan Wilcox and Elizabeth Todd. He worked as a merchant, and around 1816, married Chloe Hand (b. 1791), with whom he had six children who lived to adulthood: Eliza Maria, Jonathan Samuel (b. ca. 1822), Catherine Artemisia, Daniel Hand (b. ca. 1824), Sarah Elizabeth, and George Augustus (b. ca. 1827). By 1844, Wilcox owned a store in Madison, Connecticut, and was president of the town's Total Abstinence Society. In 1849, he was the president of the Connecticut State Democratic Convention. He died in February 1875.
From the guide to the Jonathan S. Wilcox diaries, Wilcox, Jonathan S. diaries, 1844-1875, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
