USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume III > Part 14
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Mr. Gilbert represents the second generation of his family in the management of this company, which was founded by his father, although under another firm name, in the first decade of the century. Alfred Carlton Gilbert, Sr., was a native of the West Coast, born at Salem, Oregon, on February 15. 1884. In 1905 he came to the East to attend Yale University, and prepared for a career in medicine, re- ceiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1909. However, he never practiced. having developed a greater interest in the course of his college years. This interest was magic-to many a hobby but to him a lifetime passion. As soon as he had completed his courses at Yale in 1909, he turned his attention to the manufacture of equipment designed to assist magicians in their work of illusion, and establishing the Mysto Manufacturing Company. However, as there was a greater demand and greater prospects in the field of scientific toys, he gradu- ally shifted emphasis toward their production, and assumed a sub- stantial place in this field with the formation of The A. C. Gilbert Company in 1916. He remained president of the corporation until 1954, when he became chairman of the board, and he was very active in the business up until the time of his passing away on January 24, 1961, at the age of seventy-six. While attending Pacific University, where he receved his degree of Bachelor of Science, A. C. Gilbert, Sr., met Mary Thompson. She was born at McCune, Kansas, on July 20, 1884, and they were married in 1908.
Attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts to com- plete his preparatory studies, Alfred C. Gilbert, Jr., graduated there in 1937, then went to Yale University, where he took his degree of Bachelor of Engineering in 1941. During the World War II years he was engaged in defense work with Central Electric Company at Schenectady, New York, and joined The A. C. Gilbert Company in 1946 as assistant to the president. When his father retired from the presidency in 1954, the son succeeded him in that office. Today, under his capable executive leadership, the great factory which makes child- ren's dreams come true employs twelve hundred men and women in the manufacture of the famed Erector sets, American Flyer trains, and other quality scientific toys. They have had an incalculable effect in stimulating the constructive instinct in the young.
Mr. Gilbert is a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, and Sigma Xi scientific honor society. His regular college fraternity is Phi Gamma
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Delta. He is active in the Young Presidents' Organization, Inc., a national body of which he is now chairman of the Connecticut Chap- ter. He is also past president of Junior Achievement of Greater New Haven, is vice president of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and was formerly a director of the Rotary Club. His other member- ships include the Quinnipiac Club and New Haven Country Club, and he and his family attend the Congregational Church.
At Farmington, on November 28, 1942, Alfred Carlton Gilbert, Jr., married Julie Jean Tibbetts. Born at West Newton, Massachu- setts, on March 26, 1923, she is a daughter of Howard and Julie (Sherman) Tibbetts. Her parents still live in Farmington, and her father is a tool engineer with Pratt and Whitney Aircraft. Mrs. Gil- bert attended Bancroft School at Worcester, and Bradford Junior College. She is active in the Junior League, and is a director of the Leila Day Nursery. The couple are the parents of the following child- ren : 1. Julie Ann, born on July 20, 1944, in Schenectady, New York. She is attending Day School for Girls in New Haven. 2. Alfred Carlton, 3rd, who was born in New Haven on June 28, 1946. He is attending Hopkins Grammar School, which is probably the oldest school in New England. 3. John Howard, born in New Haven on April 18, 1949; attending Spring Glen Public School. 4. David Thomp- son, born April 5, 1953, in New Haven.
JAMES C(ALVIN) HULLETT
Joining the Hartford Fire Insurance Company shortly after he had completed his education, James C. Hullett has advanced within its ranks to the position of president. Over the years he has also as- sumed duties as president, on in other official capacity, with a number of other insurance firms, and in insurance men's organizations.
A native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, he was born on March 17, 1910, and is a son of James C. and Stella (Neal) Hullett. His entire career has been in insurance, and while still in high school he started as an office boy in the Herdman and Stout Agency in Bowling Green. However, he went on to advanced studies at Western Kentucky State College and Northwestern University. On graduation from Northwestern University in 1929, he was employed in the fire under- writing department of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company's West- ern Department in Chicago.
In September, 1933, he was appointed a special agent for Okla- homa, and in 1936 was transferred to Ohio where he supervised the field activities in the northwest section of that state. In 1941 he was
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made an assistant manager of the Western Department, and three years later was elected a vice president of the company and transferred to the home office.
At the present time, James C. Hullett is president and chairman of the finance committee of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, posts he has filled since 1953. He is also chairman of the finance com- mittee and director of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company ; president and director of the Citizens Insurance Company of New Jersey, New York Underwriters Insurance Company, Hartford Live Stock Insurance Company, and the Twin City Fire Insurance Com- pany. He is a trustee of the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company, a director of the Dime Savings Bank, a director of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, a trustee of Kingswood Academy, Inc., a director of the Hartford Golf Club, a vice president, director and member of the executive committee of the Hartford Better Business Bureau, a director of the Hartford Electric Light Company, a director of the Connecticut Institute for the Blind, a trustee of the American Institute for Property and Liability Underwriters, Inc., a corporator of the Institute of Living, and a trustee of the Connecticut Ex- penditure Council.
Mr. Hullett is a past president of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, a director of the National Board of Fire Underwriters Building Corporation, a director of the General Adjustment Bureau, and a trustee of the Underwriters' Laboratories.
He is a communicant of the Asylum Congregational Church, and serves on the advisory board of Bingham's "History of Connecticut."
On November 25, 1936, James C. Hullett married Patricia O'Sul- livan, daughter of Neal and Agatha (Hutton) O' Sullivan. They have two children: I. James Neal, who was born on March 2, 1939. He attended Kingswood School in West Hartford, and the University of Pennsylvania. 2. Joseph Walter, born on April 21, 1941. He attended Kingswood School in West Hartford and Hackley School, Tarrytown, New York.
SHERMAN RICHMOND KNAPP
In addition to his post as president and director of The Con- necticut Light and Power Company, a position he has held since the early 1950s, Sherman R. Knapp is an official of a number of other Connecticut corporations. He lives in Berlin, where his company has its headquarters.
He is a native of Danbury, and was born on June 17, 1905, son
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of Frederick Abijah and Julia (Richmond) Knapp. For his advanced studies he entered Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and there took his degree of Electrical Engineer in 1928. Immediately after graduation, he returned to his native state and joined The Connecticut Light and Power Company. Until 1937 he served as an engineer in the company's Operating and Sales Departments, and in that year he was made manager of the New Milford District. In 1941 he became assistant to the sales vice president, and he was named assistant to the president in 1948. In December, 1949, Mr. Knapp was elected executive vice president, and in March, 1952, he was elected president and a director of the company, with offices on Berlin Turnpike in Berlin.
Mr. Knapp serves as a director of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, The Hartford Accident and In- demnity Company, The Hartford Fire Insurance Company, The Con- necticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, Scovill Manufacturing Company, and Emhart Manufacturing Company, and is a trustee of The Connecticut Bank and Trust Company. He also serves on the boards of the National Industrial Conference Board and the Institute of Living.
He is a trustee of Connecticut College and The Connecticut Public Expenditure Council. He is a past president of both the New England Gas Association, and of the Electric Council of New England and is a vice president and director of the Yankee Atomic Electric Com- pany. Over the years he has taken a full part in the program of the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut, and is now chairman of its Atomic Energy Committee. Following the disastrous floods of 1955, he served as chairman of the Connecticut Flood Recovery Committee.
On June 23, 1928, Sherman Richmond Knapp married Eleanor Tracy, daughter of George H. and Gladys (Hutchinson) Tracy. The couple are the parents of three children: I: Sherman R., who was born on February 2, 1930. 2. Barbara, born on August 22, 1932. 3. Duncan Tracy, born on February 10, 1938.
JAMES BREWSTER
For over two decades, until his recent retirement, James Brews- ter served capably as Connecticut's State Librarian. He is a native of Groton, South Dakota, and was born on July 22, 1886, son of Wil- liam Joseph and Emma (Colby) Brewster. His father was an Epis- copal clergyman.
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In 1893 the family came to the East, and after completing his public school education, James Brewster began his advanced studies at Trinity College in Hartford. After graduating there in 1908, he began his career in business, as cashier with Travelers Insurance Com- pany. He remained with that organization until 1914, when he be- came auditor with the Canada Steamship Lines. His tenure there was interrupted by wartime service in the United States Navy, in which he enlisted in 1918. Following the war, Mr. Brewster's connection with Canada Steamship Lines continued until 1924.
Following a successful career in the business world, Mr. Brew- ster now changed the direction of his career interests. He entered Al- bany Library School at Albany, New York, in 1924, and graduated there in 1926 with the degree of Bachelor of Library Science. As soon as he had completed his courses, he was offered a position as head of the order section of the New York State Library. He remained in this connection until 1927, when he left to accept appointment as li- brarian at Union College, Schenectady, New York.
Mr. Brewster joined the staff of the Connecticut State Library in 1935 as assistant state librarian. He became State Librarian in 1936. During his tenure of office the library prospered and became the de- pository for the official records of the State.
Active in the Connecticut Library Association, he served as its president during the 1937-1938 term, and he has also held office as second vice president of the National Association of State Librarians. He is a member of the American Library Association, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Society of American Archivists, and the Ar- chives Committee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Incorporated. Interested in the programs of patriotic societies, he is a member of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars, which he served as secretary, and of the Society of Descendants of the Founders of Hartford. He is an honorary member of the New London County Historical Society, and a member of the Antiquarian and Landmark Society.
Mr. Brewster's fraternity is Psi Upsilon. He is a member of the Grolier Club of New York and the Acorn Club of Connecticut, and attends the Episcopal Church.
On January 1, 1918, James Brewster married Jessie A. Mills, and they have two children: Mary Bunce ( Mrs. Richard E. Brooks) of New Jersey; and Cynthia ( Mrs. Peter B. Clifford) of West Hart- ford. Mr. and Mrs. Brewster are living in Litchfield, where Mr. Brewster's father was rector of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church for many years.
Carle Brush
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CHARLES E. BRUST
A distinguished career in New England industry has brought Charles E. Brust to the presidency of the Eastern Malleable Iron Company. This large manufacturing organization has its headquarters at Naugatuck, where one of its works is also located; and it has other plants in Cleveland, Ohio; Wilmington, Delaware; Newburgh and Syracuse, New York; Marietta, Ohio and Portland, Maine. Mr. Brust has to his credit many years of loyal service to the organization. He is an official of other corporations as well, and is active in civic, wel- fare and organizational affairs at Naugatuck.
Born at Brunswick, New York, on November 10, 1894, he is a son of Jacob H. and Melvina (Coonradt) Brust. His father, also a native of Brunswick, was an engineer on a dredge boat. Mrs. Brust too was born at Brunswick. Both parents are deceased.
The industrialist attended the public schools of Brunswick, and a business college at Troy, New York. A history of the company published in 1952 gives this brief and colorful explanation of his choice of an occupation :
Charles E. Brust was plowing on his uncle's farm near Troy one May day when unseasonable snow dumped out of the sky and turned the field to quagmire. Master Brust was only 16 at the time but he had no trouble making up his mind. He wrapped the lines around the plow handles and walked out of the field. He walked into the city, where life was arranged in such a way that a spring snow was unlikely to break a man's back, and went to work for the Troy Malleable Iron Company.
This was in 1911. In 1928 he came to Connecticut and went to work in one of the company's New Britain foundries, then came the Naugatuck plant of the Eastern Malleable Iron Company. This firm has a century-old history, having been founded in 1854 by B. B. Tuttle and J. H. Whittemore. As the company grew in the years following the Civil War, foundries were acquired at Troy, New York, and at Bridgeport and New Britain, supplementing the production of the original one at Naugatuck. Their firm, first known as Tuttle and Whittemore, later became The Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company. By 1928 there were six plants : two in New Britain, one in Naugatuck, one in Troy, one in Bridgeport, and one in Wilmington, Delaware. At the time of the nationwide economic depression of the 1930s, the company managed to maintain a fair level of productivity, but the New Britain plants were closed, and they were later disposed of. Lewis A. Dibble became president during this era, and in his adminis- tration the corporation assumed its present form-a complex of seven widely separated plants with diversified products. These are the Eber-
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hard Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio: Wilmington Works, at Wilmington, Delaware; Eastern Casting Corporation at Newburgh, New York; Frazer and Jones Company, Syracuse; Pattin Manufacturing Company of Marietta, Ohio, and Danforth Anchors, Portland, Maine; as well as the Naugatuck Works in Naugatuck, where company headquarters is also located. At the Naugatuck plant, prin- cipal products are malleable iron castings, Eastern Z Metal and Hy- Tenso castings (pearlitic malleable), high alloy steel castings, and aluminum sand castings.
After working at the New Britain foundries and at Naugatuck, Charles E. Brust was transferred to the Cleveland plant in 1940 to serve as managing director there. In 1943 he returned to Naugatuck to assume duties as executive vice president. He succeeded M1. Dibble in the presidency in 1952.
Mr. Brust serves on the board of directors of the corporation, and he is also a director of the Risdon Manufacturing Company of Naugatuck, Peter Paul, Inc., the Savings and Loan Association of Naugatuck, and the Waterbury Savings Bank. A well-known figure in his industry, he has been active in the national association of his trade, the Malleable Founders Society, and has served as its president. In his own city, he is a member and past president of the Chamber of Commerce.
Deeply interested in welfare causes, which he has effectively sup- ported, Mr. Brust serves on the boards of the local chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the Highfield Club, and of the Union Club of Cleveland, Ohio, The Country Club of Waterbury, Inc., and the Water- bury Club. He attends the Congregational Church of Naugatuck. At the time of World War I, he served in the United States Army, being assigned to the Ordnance Department.
On June 1, 1918, Charles E. Brust married Mary B. Brust, daughter of Ernest L. and Jennie ( Roberts) Brust, of Brunswick, New York.
CHARLES KRUM DAVIS
Charles Krum Davis was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Janu- ary 7, 1889, son of Walter Scott and Mary M. (Krum) Davis. He graduated from East St. Louis, Illinois, High School in 1905 and was then employed as an analytical inorganic chemist in the Laboratory of the Aluminum Company of America, East St. Louis, Illinois, 1905- 1906, and then in a similar capacity in the Laboratory of the American
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Steel Foundries in East St. Louis. He attended the University of Il- linois, as a student in Chemical Engineering, 1907-1908. From 1908- 1910, he was employed in the Laboratory of the American Smelting and Refining Co., in Baltimore, Maryland, and was later placed in charge of the refining of gold, silver, platinum, palladium and recovery of selenium and tellurium as by-products from the electrolytic refin- ing of copper. He then accepted a position with the Braden Copper Company, Chile, South America, as general foreman of the copper roasting, leaching and electrolytic plant, 1911-1915.
Mr. Davis returned to the United States in 1915 and entered the employ of E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company at Hopewell, Virginia, as gun-cotton supervisor and later became superintendent of gun-cot- ton manufacturing plant "A" and sulphuric acid manufacturing plant "C". Early in 1919, he was transferred as Director of Manufacture to the Pyralin Department of the duPont Company in Arlington, New Jersey, formerly the Arlington Company, manufacturers of pyroxylin plastics, which had been acquired by duPont in 1915. In May 1925, he was transferred as General Manager in charge of production and sales to the Leominster, Massachusetts works of the Viscoloid Com- pany, manufacturers of plastic toys, toiletware, tooth brushes, sheets, rods and tubes. This company was consolidated in 1925 with duPont's Pyralin Department to form the duPont Viscoloid Company. In 1928, he was advanced to the position of Assistant General Manager of the Company and became President and General Manager and Director in February 1929, at the age of forty.
In the meantime, duPont had acquired the Roessler and Hass- lacher Chemical Company, manufacturers of electro-chemicals, so- dium, ceramic colors and peroxides. In 1932, Mr. Davis was elected President and General Manager and Director of that Company, which subsequently became the Electro-Chemicals Department of duPont. A little more than a year later, Mr. Davis began his long association with Remington Arms Company, Inc., Bridgeport, Connecticut, as President and General Manager and Director, 1933-1954. During World War II, 1940-1945, Remington Arms Company, Inc., expanded its own facilities in three plants, and supervised the construction and operated five plants for the United States Government, increasing its personnel from 4,000 to 82,500. It produced 16,500,000,000 cartridges and over one million Springfield Rifles for the United States and its allies.
Following formation of Rem-Cru Titanium, manufacturer of titanium sheets, rods and tubes, in 1950. a 50% owned subsidiary of
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Remington Arms Company and Crucible Steel, he became first Chair- man of the Board of Directors and later Honorary Chairman of the Board. The Company was dissolved in 1957.
In January 1940, Mr. Davis was elected a Director of the First National Bank & Trust Company, now the Connecticut National Bank of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In January 1954, he was elected Chairman of the Board of that Bank and is still serving in that capacity.
Mr. Davis has been a Director of the Bridgeport Hospital since 1935. During the past twenty-five years, Mr. Davis has been interested in the collection and preservation of the Arts and Crafts of Early America. His collection includes many examples of rare pieces of early American furniture, silver, pewter, brass, copper, iron, wooden- ware, Currier and Ives prints ; George H. Durrie paintings, lowestoff china, glass, Staffordshire china, etc. His collection has been appraised by such experts as Israel Sack, Charles F. Montgomery, Alice Win- chester and others, as one of the finest outside of the important mu- seums of the country.
Mr. Davis is a Fellow in Perpetuity of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City ; a life member of the Society for the Preserva- tion of New England Antiquities; an honorary life member of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, New Haven, Connecticut; Di- rector of Winterthur Corporation which operates the Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, member of the Board of Overseers of Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, member of the Pewter Collectors Club of America and former member of the Council of the Fairfield Historical Society, Fairfield, Connecticut.
During his youth Mr. Davis was actively interested in many sports. He was a participant in football, baseball, field and track, golf, tennis, fishing, hunting, trap and skeet shooting, etc. He is a life member of the National Rifle Association, member of the Aspetuck Fish and Game Club, Bridgeport, life member and vice chairman of the Council of the American Ordnance Association, associate member of the Outdoor Writers Association; founder member and formerly Trustee of the American Wildlife Institute and member of the Spring- field, Massachusetts, Post of the American Ordnance Association.
Following World War II, Mr. Davis received a Certificate of Commendation dated January 25, 1946, from the U. S. Ordnance De- partment, Armed Service Forces and U. S. Army, for outstanding performance and duty during the period January 1, 1942 to December 31, 1945, while serving as adviser to the Chief of Ordnance. On No-
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vember 28, 1945, he received a certificate of appreciation from the U. S. War Department, for patriotic services in a position of trust and responsibility as a member of the Advisory Board of the Spring- field, Massachusetts, Ordnance District. On October 1, 1947, he was awarded the Rice Gold Medal by the Army Ordnance Association, with the following citation: "For distinguished service in Ordnance Engineering, the Army Ordnance Association acclaims Charles K. Davis for his leadership, skill and tireless devotion in the management and operation of vast industrial facilities for the production of small arms ammunition in World War II. As Chairman of the Association's Small Arms Division, he continues to render loyal service in the solu- tion of production engineering problems of American small arms-the equipment with which the American soldier is supreme in the battle- field."
In 1950 he received an award as an "Ambassador" from Penn- sylvania and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Davis is a life member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association; member of the University of Illinois Foundation; honor- ary President and life member of the Remington Arms 25 Year Club, Bridgeport, Connecticut, life member of the 25 Year Club of Reming- ton Arms, Ilion, New York, and member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Mr. Davis is a member of Mountain Lodge F. and A.M., Upper Montclair, New Jersey ; a member (32nd Degree) of the Ancient Accepted Order of Scottish Rite, Jersey City, New Jersey; and a life member of the A.A.O.N.M.S. (Shrine) Salaam Temple, Newark, New Jersey.
On July 15th, 1912, he was married to Bertha Barbara Buscher of Baltimore, Maryland in the American Consulate at Valparaiso, Chile, South America. They have four children, Roberta Louise, now Mrs. Robert A. Massey, born May 15, 1913, Chile, South America; Dorothy, now Mrs. Harold A. Mitchell, born October 9, 1919, Mont- clair, New Jersey; Charles Krum, Jr., born August 9, 1925, Glen Ridge, New Jersey, now married to Dorothy Allyn Hatch; William Roy, born August 9, 1925, Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis now reside in Winton Park, Fairfield.
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