CAPTAIN LEWIS REMER,
Father of Joseph H. Remer, was born in Derby, 1785, and was a resident of the town to the time of his death in December 1841.  He learned the trade of a shoemaker and carried on the manufacture of shoes for years at Up Town on a large and lively scale, employing at times forty or fifty hands.  He was a leading man in the community, and wielded a strong moral and religious influence in the Congregational church, in which he was trained from boyhood.  No man was more devoted to the sick or suffering than he, and when "undertaking" was less a business occupation than now he was called upon from far and near to prepare the dead for funeral obsequies.  He said a few days before his death that he had performed his act to his fellow townsmen ninety-six times, and he thought, as a Christian he had done his part in that direction.  Mr. Remer was truly a man of God and abounded in good works.
Source:  History of Town of Derby, New Haven County, Connecticut - 1642 - 1880 - Page 639