Frederick Wuterich, who is engaged in the wholesale bottling business in Meriden, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, February 27, 1837, his parents being Jacob Frederick and Catherine (Kachele) Wuterich. The father passed away in 1852, while the death of the mother occurred in 1848. Their son Frederick acquired his education in the public schools of Germany and was in one school or another almost until the time when he crossed the Atlantic. In vacation periods he was in his father's factory, in which were made machines for weaving broadcloth and other high grade goods. He became very proficient in the work of the factory, acted as bookkeeper, also as paymaster and did other duties in connection with the conduct of the business.
     It was in the year 1853 that Mr. Wuterich crossed the Atlantic to New York city, where he remained for three or four months. He then went to Glastonbury, Connecticut, where other families from the same locality in Germany had settled. He worked on a farm there for a year and on the 1st of April, 1854, he secured employment in the Sanford shop at Yalesville, where he continued until the panic of 1857. He then returned to Germany to settle up his father's estate but in the spring of 1858 again came to Meriden and took a trip west to Chicago. From that point he went to the Mississippi river and made his way up and down the river looking for work. He afterward returned to Meriden and was employed at various places through the next few years, being for a time with the Charles Parker Company and with the Sanford Company. In 1861 he endeavored to enlist for service in the Union army but was not accepted. He afterward spent some time in Pittsburgh and in Yonkers, New York, and then again came to Meriden and worked at Yalesville until 1885, when he bought a small bottling plant on West Main street. This he sold out after three or four years and purchased the Bixhee House, which he conducted for three years. He next repurchased the bottling works and in 1900 removed to his present location. He represents the Henry Rice Brewing Company of New York city. When he first started in business he did all of the work himself but now employs eight men and has two trucks and two wagons. He sells the output over the town and county and is doing a profitable business as a wholesale bottler and dealer.
     On the 1st of January, 1860, Mr. Wuterich was united in marriage to Miss Frederica Handel, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, and they have five living children: Pauline, who is now the wife of Louis Schleyer, who is living at Norwich and by whom she has one child, Earl; Emma, who is the wife of Stanley Jarvis, of Meriden, and has one child, Irving; Philip A., who married Maud Jacobs, of Wallingford, and who has four children—Roswell, Ellsworth, Raymond and Geraldine; Josephine N., the wife of Alfred Hirschfeld, of Meriden, and the mother of a daughter, Helen; and Minnie L., the wife of E. J. Laundrie, of Provi-dence, Rhode Island, by whom she has one child, Prescott. The son, Philip Wuterich, has for twenty-seven years been connected with the Charles Parker Compare Mr. and Mrs. Wuterich also had five children who have passed away: Charles, Edward, William, Frederick and Marie.
     Mr. Wuterich speaks and writes three languages—French, German, and English. On coming to America, soon after landing in New York, he took out his first naturalization papers. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and for six years he served on the school board. He is a member of the Episcopal church and since 1868 he has had membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Cosmopolitan Club, of the German Mutual Aid Society and of the Meriden Turn Verein. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, and while pleasant memories of boyhood cluster around the home of his youth, he has always felt it his first duty to be loyal to his adopted land, under whose laws he has found protection and under whose flag he has enjoyed opportunities and liberties that could not have been secured had he remained on the soil of his native country.