George de Languillette and His Father, Ernst
In September of 1875, if you lived in Hicksville, you knew of George's father, Ernst Heinrich de Languillette, one of the village's early German immigrants. He had served as Postmaster, and he had played a key role in the early years of the Fire Department. Townspeople shopped at his store on Broadway, and they looked forward each year to the fair held by the Oyster Bay Town Agricultural Society - a group of which Ernst was the president, as well as the mortgage-holder for its fair grounds. Even if Hicksvillians did not bathe using the locally-made soap, they knew that in the previous year, Ernst had acquired the works that made it.
Queens County Sentinel, April 30, 1874
"& SON" meant George de Languillette, who
actually operated the works - his father once
proudly announced, "I am no soap boiler."
For a number of people in the village, or for their friends, old Mr. de Languillette was a landlord. Over his nearly fifty years in the village, he had become one of its wealthier residents, in part because of his many investments in regional real estate.
In the map below, note how much of the downtown Broadway frontage he owned. Note also that at the western intersections at "Nicholay" Street, the properties were owned by families of his in-laws, respectively named Bussmann and Quaritius. Ernst may have helped them acquire these choice spots.
Core of Downtown Hicksville circa 1875
Beers, Comstock & Cline, Atlas of Long Island, etc., 1873
digitalcollections.nypl.org (modified for this article)
Properties owned by Ernst Heinrich de Languillette
are highlighted in yellow.
His acquisition of the Soap and Candle Factory was too recent to be reflected in the Atlas. When this map was drafted, Louis E. Koch still owned the factory and the large farm property on which it stood. By the spring of 1874, he had traded them to de Languillette, in exchange for a number of real estate parcels closer to New York, including some properties in Brooklyn.
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It is difficult to learn much about George himself. He seems to have tried working as a commercial traveler (i.e., traveling salesman), but he was stymied by chronic health problems. On the 1870 U.S. Census, again likely because of his health, he was listed as a "retired grocer" - at the young age of 21.
By early 1875, George had been in charge of factory operations for almost a year, and he had proved himself to his father. Ernst felt sufficiently confident in George to retire from the soap and candle business, leaving him as senior partner. Thus, young de Languillette took on a junior partner, Ludwig Friedman, to help shoulder responsibilities.
Southold Long Island Traveler, February 11, 1875
Hicksvillians seem to have respected George de Languillette. Reporters sometimes called him "gritty" - but they also seem to have worried about him. Newspapers were known to comment on his health.
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