USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 3 > Part 21
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at the time he was serving as a medical interne; and Mary J., deceased.
Their son, Charles H. Hubbard, was born July 31, 1836, at Bloomfield, Hartford county, Connecticut, during the period in which his parents lived at that place. He returned with them, however, to Clinton, Connecticut, when about eight years of age, and it was there that the elementary portion of his education was received at the local public schools. Upon complet- ing his studies at these institutions, he entered Williston Seminary at Easthamp- ton, Massachusetts, a very well known in- stitution, and graduated therefrom with the class of 1853. About this time, how- ever, his health failed him and he was obliged to abandon for a time his studies. After a considerable rest, however, his health apparently having been entirely restored, he engaged in the profession of teaching and secured a position with the Massachusetts Reform School at West- boro in that State. Here he remained for a number of years, and it was while thus engaged that his attention first became definitely directed towards medicine as a possible career in life. He had, of course, the strong inducement afforded by the consideration that his father had achieved such a notable success in the same line, but his own tastes were in the main re- sponsible for his taking up its study. For a time he pursued his subject alone, while still employed at the Reform School, but later gave up his work there and returned to Clinton, where he began to work under the preceptorship of his father. Later he entered the Yale Medical School, from which he graduated in January, 1860, with his degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the month of July in that same year, young Dr. Hubbard began the practice of his profession in the town of Essex, where he succeeded to the practice of Dr. Shep- hard, whose death had occurred the pre-
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ceding April. Here he rapidly estab- lished himself in the good opinion of his fellow citizens and built up the largest and most high class practice in the entire region. For many years he was consid- ered the leading physician in that vicin- ity and indeed remained active in the life of the place until his death, which oc- curred at the venerable age of seventy- eight or seventy-nine years. He was a director of the Essex Savings Bank, much interested in educational work there and took a very active part in local affairs generally. Dr. Hubbard was a lifelong Republican, but although he felt strongly on all the issues of his time, the demands made upon him by his professional tasks were of so onerous a nature that he found it impossible to take the active part in politics to which his tastes impelled him and for which his talents fitted him so eminently. He did, however, find it pos- sible to serve on the Board of Education and remained a member thereof for twen- ty-five years, acting during much of this time as school visitor and for many years as health officer and medical examiner. Dr. Hubbard, like his father before him, was a Congregationalist, and was very active in the support of the Congrega- tional church of Essex. He was a mem- ber of the Masonic order. He was also a member of both County and State Medical societies. Dr. Hubbard was united in marriage with Cherrilla G. Conklin, a native of Essex, born in the year 1838, a daughter of George and Mary (Griswold) Conklin. They were the par- ents of the following children : Mary P., who became the wife of Charles R. Bishop, of New Haven ; Jennie D .; Car- rie C., deceased; and Charles Edward, who is mentioned at length below.
Charles Edward Hubbard was born June 24, 1868, at Essex, Connecticut. His early education was received in the local pub-
lic schools, and he later attended Wes- leyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachu- setts. Upon completing his course at the latter institution, he at once took up the serious business of life and secured a position in the old Mercantile Bank of Hartford, where he remained for a short time. He then entered the employ of the E. Taylor & Sons Lumber Company, but did not remain a great while with this concern either. Being of an ambitious and enterprising disposition, he decided to follow the advice given by Horace Greeley to the young men of his day and go West. Accordingly, he traveled to Chicago and there entered the employ of the B. F. Goodrich Rubber Company, with which concern he remained for three or four years. In 1893, however, he re- turned to the East and for a short time held a position in the accounting depart- ment of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. It was shortly afterwards that he came to Hart- ford, which has since been his perma- nent home and where he resided unin- terruptedly for nine or ten years. He was employed by the Farmington Street Railway Company. In this concern he worked his way well up, until he was chosen to the double office of secretary and manager of the company. He eventu- ally resigned this position, however, to become purchasing agent for the Mahon- ing & Shenango Railway and Light Com- pany of Youngstown, Ohio. He went to that western city and there remained for about eighteen months, after which he returned to Hartford, which has been his home ever since. By this time Mr. Hub- bard had reached a point where he felt justified in starting in business on his own account, and accordingly, upon com- ing to Hartford, he purchased from Mr. S. B. Bosworth his present business, which has rapidly grown in size and im-
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portance up to the present time. His con- cern deals in cement and sewer pipe in both wholesale and retail trades and is now the largest business of its kind be- tween New York and Boston. Mr. Hub- bard has played an exceedingly prominent part in the general life of the community, and although in no sense of the term a politician is regarded as a powerful factor in local affairs and has held a number of public offices. He served as a member of the police commission from 1914 to the beginning of 1917, and during this time performed an invaluable service for the community. He is also a conspicuous figure in the social and club life of Hart- ford, and is a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Rotary and City clubs. He was also a member of the old Hart- ford Wheel Club, having been an enthusi- astic bicyclist, and served on its board of governors. He is now a member of the Wethersfield Country Club, and is still devoted to outdoor pastimes of all kind.
Mr. Hubbard was united in marriage, on October 19, 1898, with Mary Chamber- lain, of Hartford, a daughter of Samuel D. Chamberlain, a highly respected resident of that city. Two children have been born to them as follows: Sarah, Septem- ber 6, 1908, and Charles H., February II, 1910.
A word is here appropriate concerning the Griswold family, from which Mr. Hubbard is descended through his ma- ternal grandmother and which for many years has occupied a distinguished posi- tion in various sections of Connecticut. This lady was the wife of George Conk- lin and the mother of Cherrilla G. (Conk- lin) Hubbard. The immigrant ancestor of the family was Mathew Griswold. who with his brother Edward came from Warwick, England, in 1639, in company with the Rev. Mr. Hunt's party, who
came to Windsor, Connecticut, that year. Mathew Griswold married Anna Wolcott in 1646, removed to Saybrook as agent for Colonel Fenwick, speedily assumed prominence, and was largely instrumental in the movements which led up to the settlement of Lyme; he became the lead- ing and wealthiest man in that town, which was set off from Saybrook in 1665, establishing near the mouth of the Con- necticut river "Blackhall," since the fam- ily seat of the Griswold family. His death occurred in 1698. He left a son, Mathew Griswold, who married and had a family ; Mathew Griswold died in 1715.
Selah Griswold, the grandfather of Samuel Griswold, was born in the north- eastern part of Killingworth. Having been left an orphan at an early age, he was bound out to a farmer until he war sixteen years old, coming then to Essex which was then a part of Saybrook, and there learning the trade of shoemaker of a Mr. Starkey, who later became his father-in-law. Following his trade for a number of years, he later purchased a small farm and erected a house thereon, this farm being located about two miles south of Essex on the Bokum road. There he followed his trade and farming for the remainder of his active life, his death oc- curring when he was eighty-three years old. He married Mary Ann Starkey, and their children were: Daniel, Selah, Asel P. and Mary Ann.
Daniel Griswold, the father of Samuel Griswold, was born in March, 1780, in what is now Essex, where he grew to manhood. Like his brothers, he learned the trade of shoemaker, which he fol- lowed during the winters, and each sum- mer for forty consecutive years he fol- lowed fishing, particularly for shad, in the Connecticut river, leaving both these occupations later in life to engage in farming. His estate near his beloved
ConD-3-10
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river was in Essex, and there he peace- fully passed away when almost ninety- one years old. For many years he was a surveyor of town roads. He was a man of superior mental faculties, had a won- derful memory, was a constant reader, and possessed sound judgment, ambition and energy. He was gifted in many di- rections, had great physical strength, and was a most excellent manager. Though a staunch Democrat, of the Jeffersonian type, he never accepted office, but was always interested in the success of his party. Daniel Griswold married Fanny Babcock, of Old Saybrook, daughter of William Babcock. She lived to the age of eighty. The children born to Daniel and Fanny (Babcock) Griswold were: Maria, who married Fordes Dennison ; Alfred. who married (first) Mary Ives, of Middletown, and (second) a lady named Joslyn; Cherrilla, who married Giles O. Clark, of Chester ; William, who married Laura Tucker ; Edwin, who married Eliz- abeth Griswold; Mary, who married George Conklin; Rachel, who married (first) Albert Pratt, and (second) George Pratt ; and Samuel. For his second wife Mr. Griswold married, late in life, Mrs. Spencer ; they had no children.
GLOVER, Charles,
Business Man, Inventor.
It is the glory of a self-made man that his boyhood was one of hardship and pri- vation, and that the more trying the con- ditions the greater the determination to overcome them. When such men gather and compare experiences all agree that none started life under greater disadvan- tages or were more heavily handicapped than Charles Glover, a hired farmer's boy at the age of ten, now president, vice- president and director of corporations of national importance. Of English birth
and parentage, but living in the United States since the age of two years, he has all the love and devotion for his adopted State and Nation that a native son could have. His parents. George and Rebecca (Wood) Glover, came to the United States with their children in 1849, settling in the town of Enfield, Connecticut, where George Glover operated a small machine shop. The family is an old one in Not- tingham, England.
Charles Glover was born June 16, 1847, in Nottingham. England, and when two years of age was brought to Enfield, Con- necticut. He attended public school until ten years of age. He then hired out to a farmer, living between Enfield and Haz- ardville. He worked for that farmer until he was fourteen, then was taken home by his father, who needed his help in the machine shop, his elder brothers all hay- ing enlisted in the Union army. The boy's tastes were decidedly mechanical, and he set about learning the machinist's trade with great satisfaction and diligence. He realized his need of further education, and as his days were fully occupied, his nights were devoted to study, his entire educa- tion beyond the rudiments having been acquired by night study. He rapidly ac- quired a good knowledge of the machin- ist's trade and when, in 1864, the family moved to Windsor Locks, he was able to secure and hold a position with the Medi- cott Knitting Company, as machinist. In 1867 he entered the employ of the Na- tional Screw Company. He rated him- self an expert, and in the next year be- came foreman and contractor for the Na- tional Screw Company of Hartford, Con- necticut. He held that position until the business was sold to the American Screw Company of Providence, Rhode Island, then, in 1876, located in New Britain. P. and F. Corbin at that time were about adding a screw manufacturing depart-
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Chas Glow
.RY
THE NEV PIPLIC LIB. WAY
F-TOP, BAK COLIN FOLILAIINT
Willis &Caulking,
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ment to their plant, and they secured the services of Mr. Glover to design and in- stall the necessary machinery for the new plant. After this was done he was placed in charge of screw manufacturing busi- ness, becoming noted for rare skill and ability as a mechanic and for his inven- tive genius. He found screw making and other machines used by hardware manu- facturers could be greatly improved, and there stands in his name more than twen- ty-five patents of great variety, chiefly devices to be used on screw making ma- chines and in manufacturing hardware specialties. He followed his own advice to young men, "Work hard and never give up," finally gaining recognition as one of the leading authorities on screw manufacture and screw mill operation. When the P. and F. Corbin Company consolidated with the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, as the Ameri- can Hardware Corporation, there were two screw factories in New Britain, and one in Dayton, Ohio, involved in the deal. In 1903 these three factories were con- solidated as the Corbin Screw Corpora- tion (Inc.), Charles Glover, president. He continues the executive head of that cor- poration and its general manager ; is pres- ident of the D. C. Judd Company of New Britain ; vice-president of the American Hardware Corporation ; was a director of the Corbin Cabinet Lock Company ; and a director of the P. and F. Corbin Com- pany, now part of the American Hard- ware Corporation ; president of the Cor- bin Motor Vehicle Corporation; director of the New Britain National Bank; and president of the Skinner Chuck Company, the H. R. Walker Company of New Britain, of North & Judd Company, and of the Ætna Nut Company.
These corporations are all factors in the manufacturing world, and in their di- rection Mr. Glover, when not the forceful
executive and managing head, takes a keen and active interest as a director. He holds no sinecures, but is an untiring worker, the habits of early youth having become the constant practice of his mna- ture years. He is a life member of Lafa- yette Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Hartford, a Republican in poli- tics, and a member of the New Britain Club, the Farmington Country Club and the Hartford Club of Hartford.
Mr. Glover married Margaret Sophia Wainwright, a daughter of Francis Wain- wright. Of the three children born to them but one survives, Ida M., widow of Walter P. Peterson, of New Britain; her children, Margaret and Glover, the latter deceased.
CAULKINS, Willis Eugene,
Contractor and Builder.
Willis Eugene Caulkins, the well known contractor and builder of Hartford, Con- necticut, is a member of a good old New England family, tracing its ancestry to Lemuel Caulkins, born 1752, died 1845. He served as a Revolutionary soldier, drafted August 24, 1777, discharged Octo- ber 30, 1777, a member of Captain Jona- than Caulkins' company. The following is taken from "Connecticut Men in the Revolution :" "Two large regiments of militia composed of detachments from all the brigades were ordered to reinforce General Gates at Saratoga in the summer of 1777. They were assigned to General Poor's Continental brigade in Arnold's di- vision, and fought in both battles with the enemy, September 19 and October 9, 1777. In the first battle they lost more men than any other two regiments in the field. Upon their dismissal, after the surrender of General Burgoyne, General Gates spoke of them as two excellent militia regiments from Connecticut. They were commanded
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by Colonel Jonathan Latimer, of New London, and Thaddeus Cook, of Walling- ford." Lemuel Caulkins married, 1781, Lucretia Chappel, who bore him nine chil- dren.
Ezekiel Caulkins, eldest child of Lem- uel and Lucretia (Chappel) Caulkins, was born 1782, and resided for many years by the side of the lake at Waterford, Con- necticut, where he was a well known figure and prominent in local affairs. He married, in 1814, Polly Darrow, who bore him eight children.
John F. E. Caulkins, youngest child of Ezekiel and Polly (Darrow) Caulkins, was born 1832, died December 13, 1862. He resided in the old family residence, where his birth occurred, and was the re- cipient of an excellent education, which placed him in such a position that he was able to follow the profession of school teaching for several years. Believing, however, that a larger opportunity awaited him in the line of business, he abandoned this occupation and learned the trade of mason, which he followed as a journey- man for a time. Shortly afterwards he began to engage in the same line on his own account, and it was not long ere he succeeded in building up a large and lucrative business, and continued so en- gaged during the remainder of his life. He went West, where he remained for a number of years, but returned to the East a short time prior to the Civil War. Upon the outbreak of hostilities, he enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, as a member of Cap- tain Davis' company, and it was not long before he was sent to the front and saw active service, receiving a shot wound, of which he died, on the battlefield of Fred- ericksburg. He married, in 1852, Sarah A. Ames, daughter of Moses Ames, of Waterford, and they were the parents of three children: Willis Eugene, of whom
further; Clarence M., of New London, Connecticut; and Minnie E., who has taught school at the same place for more than thirty years. All these births oc- curred in Waterford, Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Caulkins were members of the Baptist church.
Willis Eugene Caulkins, eldest child of John F. E. and Sarah A. (Ames) Caul- kins, was born in Waterford, Connecticut, February 17, 1853. During his infancy his parents removed to New London, Connec- ticut, and it was with the latter place that his early associations were formed, and it was there that he received his education, attending the local public schools for this purpose until he had attained the age of ten years. The family then removed to the town of East Lyme, Connecticut, where they remained for a period of about two years, and from there they returned to New London. Here Willis E. Caul- kins remained until he had attained the age of eighteen years, when he took up his residence in Hartford, Connecticut, and there learned the trade of carpenter with Deacon Edwin Mosely. For a num- ber of years thereafter he followed this trade as journeyman, but in 1891 engaged in business on his own account in partner- ship with Stephen B. Stoddard, under the firm name of Stoddard & Caulkins. This business connection continued until about 1905, when the partnership was dissolved, the ownership of the concern passing to Mr. Caulkins, who then admitted his elder son into the business with him, which then took the name of W. E. Caulkins & Son, and later the second son also became a member of the firm. Among the impor- tant work in the city carried on under the direction of Mr. Caulkins should be men- tioned the following: The Fourth Con- gregational Church of Hartford; the re- modeling of the Allyn House; the Corn- ing Building of Trumbull street; the
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THE NEW PUBLIC LIB :
ATOM, LES ILDAN . 1
Simon Lake
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Porter Memorial at Farmington, and the ' and Adaline (Sessions) Bacon, of Bur- remodeling of the Senate Chamber in the State House. Of recent years the busi- ness has increased on a very large scale, and he has done a large amount of work in constructing new and artistic store fronts, specimens of the firm's handicraft being in evidence in some of the impor- tant retail stores on the business streets of Hartford. The firm does its own mason work as well as the carpentry, and oper- ates a mill in which is produced the fine interior finish for stores as well as store fronts. The cabinet work turned out in this mill is equal in elegance and finish to that put in the best furniture, and many expensive woods are used, especially ma- hogany. Mr. Caulkins has been much in- terested in military circles in the commu- nity, and is an ex-major of the veteran corps of the Governor's Foot Guard. He is at the present time (1917) lieutenant in the Putnam Phalanx. He is past com- mander of the G. A. Stedman Camp, Sons of Veterans, and he is prominently affili- ated with the Masonic order, being a member of Lafayette Lodge, No. 100, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons; Pytha- goras Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Wol- cott Council, Royal and Select Masters; Washington Commandery, Knights Tem- plar, and Sphynx Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Charter Oak Lodge, affiliated with that body for more than thirty years, and is a charter member of the original tribe of the Improved Or- der of Redmen, which has since been dis- banded. He is past president of the Mas- ter Builders' Association, and is a member of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Employers' Association, Automobile LAKE, Simon, Club, City Club and of the Board of Com- missioners of the Municipal Building. Naval Architect, Inventor.
Mr. Caulkins married, in 1883, Emily L. Bacon, of Bristol, daughter of Erastus
lington. Her father fought in the Civil War as a member of the Eighth Connec- ticut Volunteer Infantry, and died in the rebel prison at Charleston. Her mother was a sister of the well known hardware manufacturer, John Sessions, of Bristol. Through the services of Captain Sessions, Mrs. Caulkins holds membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution, and is also a member of the Womens' Re- lief Corps and the Daughters of Veterans. Mr. and Mrs. Caulkins are the parents of two children : John A., born in Hartford, May 20, 1884, married Louisa Norris, who bore him three daughters: Marion, Helen and Jean; Clifford W., born in Hartford, August 27, 1887, married Claire A. Moore. Both of these sons graduated from the Hartford High School, then took courses in a Hartford Business College, since which time they have been identified with their father in his contracting busi- ness.
The gaining of material wealth for himself and a position of power and con- trol in the business world of Hartford, Connecticut, has been in no wise incom- patible in the case of Willis Eugene Caulkins with the great service rendered by him to the community of which he is a distinguished member. Preeminently a man of affairs, he makes his enterprises subserve the double purpose of his own ambition and the welfare of his fellows. Hartford has been the scene of his life- long labors in connection with the many enterprises with which his name is asso- ciated, and he is a highly respected citi- zen in this and the surrounding region.
In December, 1898, there entered the harbor of New York, after a cruise of two
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thousand miles in Chesapeake bay and along the Atlantic coast, a strange craft, resembling nothing ever before seen on land or sea, the "Argonaut," the first sub- marine boat to operate successfully in the open seas. Five men composed her crew, and in her voyage up the coast they had run on the surface, submerged, and ex- acted every test from the wonderful boat, during fierce storms which destroyed hun- dreds of vessels along the Atlantic coast.
When this strange craft successfully met the tests imposed and safely landed her crew, the boyhood and manhood dream of her inventor and builder, Simon Lake, was realized, a dream inspired, per- haps, by the reading, when a boy of ten years, of Jules Verne's "Twenty Thou- sand Leagues Under the Sea." It was the trip of the "Argonaut" and her work dur- ing the following winter which brought from Jules Verne a special cable message of particular interest now, in the light of recent events. The cable read :
While my book, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," is entirely a work of the imagi- nation, my conviction is that all I said in it will come to pass. A thousand-mile voyage in the Baltimore submarine boat is evidence of this. The conspicuous success of submarine navigation in the United States will push on under-water navi- gation all over the world. If such a successful test had come a few months earlier, it might have played a great part in the war just closed. The next great war may be largely a contest between submarine boats.
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