William Lewis Gilbert

Background

William Lewis Gilbert was born on December 30, 1806, at Northfield in the town of Litchfield, Connecticut. He was the second child and only son of James and Abigail (Kinney) Gilbert.

Education

Gilbert spent his youth on his father’s farm and received his education at the village school.

Career

As a young man, Gilbert taught several winters in a near-by district school, but failing of re-appointment, went to Bristol, Connecticut, where, in company with his brother-in-law, he made parts of clocks.

The dozen years, he spent there and at Farmington allowed him to become thoroughly conversant with the technique of clock manufacture and to bring out his unusual business ability.

In 1841, he went to Winsted, Connecticut. With his partners, Lucius Clarke and Ezra Baldwin, he purchased the Riley Whiting clock factory, an organization which he was to dominate until his death almost a half century later.

This business, originally established by Samuel and Luther Hoadley and Riley Whiting in 1807, and the oldest clock-manufacturing company in the United States in continuous operation, was conducted under various names until finally incorporated in 1871 as the William L. Gilbert Clock Company.

He died at Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, while on a trip made to inspect a children’s home.

Achievements

• Always interested in any project conducive to the advancement of Winsted, Gilbert was one of the leading promoters of the Connecticut Western Railroad, was for many years its treasurer, and was president at the time of its incorporation with the Central New England.

Politics

Although little occupied with politics, Gilbert was elected in 1848 and 1868 to the Connecticut legislature, first al a Whig and then as a Republican.

Personality

Gilbert concerned himself little with mechanics or invention; his success was founded upon his business skill, and there were few enterprises in the community in which he did not share financially. Perhaps the most successful of these was the private banking house of Gilbert & Gay which carried on a large business in “western loans” and which continued its activities even after Gilbert became president of the Hurlbut National Bank.

The fortune, estimated at over a million dollars, which Gilbert accumulated, was in part made possible by his own simple tastes and rigid economy.

Giving himself almost wholly to business, he made few social contacts. Behind the forbidding exterior, however, was a character dominated by a desire to serve his community.

His anonymous charities were many and he was particularly interested in helping young men toward financial independence. In line with this policy he determined to leave the bulk of his estate for the “improvement of mankind, by affording such assistance and means of educating the young as will help them to become good citizens” (Gilbert’s will).

With the exception of a grant of $48, 000 to the town of Winchester to build a tunnel for the improvement of its water supply, of some $50, 000 for the Gilbert Academy and Industrial College at Winsted, Baldwin township, Louisiana, and $12, 000 for a parsonage and library at Northfield, Connecticut, most of his property went to found two institutions.

One was the William L. Gilbert Home for Friendless Children at Winsted; the other was the Gilbert School, a private institution at the same place, supported by its own endowment, which provided free educational facilities for the children of Winchester township.

The bequest for the latter institution insisted upon the establishment of a library in connection with the school which should be open to the citizens of the town.

Connections

In 1835, Gilbert married Clarinda Hine of Washington, Connecticut. After her death in 1874, he was married to Anna West- cott of New London in 1876.

Father:

James Gilbert

12 November 1774 - 19 September 1840

Mother:

Abigail Kinney Gilbert

3 July 1779 - 18 February 1873

Sister:

Caroline Gilbert Marsh

15 April 1802 - 19 May 1849

Sister:

Harriet E Gilbert Thorp

1808 - 24 December 184

Sister:

Sarah A Gilbert Woodruff

16 July 1819 - 12 September 1886

Wife:

Anna E Wescott Gilbert

28 May 1816 - 9 February 1889

Wife:

Clarinda K Hine Gilbert

5 April 1815 - 2 May 1874

Daughter:

Harriet Gilbert

17 May 1836 - 2 November 1859

Son:

James Gilbert

2 October 1838 - 28 October 1840