Among the successful business men of New Haven who have risen to prominence from a humble start in the business world is numbered Mervin J. Gibbud, now the president and treasurer of the M. T. Gibbud Company, Incorporated, manufacturers of builders' supplies, and also conducting a contracting building business.

Mr. Gibbud was born January 5, 1874, in Naugatuck, a son of Timothy Curtis Gibbud, who was born in Naugatuck and was a representative of an old Connecticut family. The great-grandfather was Captain Mervin Gibbud, a soldier of the Revolutionary war and of Scotch descent. He was born in Connecticut, as was his son, Mervin Gibbud, Jr., the grandfather of Mervin J. Gibbud of this review. The father, who was a successful farmer, died December 19, 1917, at the age of eighty-three years. He married Charlotte A. Marsland, a native of Ossining, New York, and a representative of an old English family. Her parents were Joshua and Charlotte Marsland, both of whom were of English birth and on coming to the United States settled in New York. Her grandfather, Fasset, installed the engines on the Clermont, which was the first steamboat that plied the waters of America and also made the trip with Robert Fulton. Five of his sons took part in the Civil war on the Union side as engineers and were well known and prominent men of their day. Their sister, Mrs. Charlotte Gibbud, died in 1887, at the age of fifty years. She was the mother of two children, the elder being Jennie M., who became the wife of Frank Arendholz, and is now deceased.

The only son, Mervin J. Gibbud, attended the Pond Hill school in Naugatuck. This was a country school, but he utilized his advantages in a way that gave him a good foundation for his success in business. His youth to the age of seventeen years was spent upon the home farm, with the usual training and experiences of the farmbred boy. He then went to Waterbury and engaged in the woodworking business, being employed in the plant of W. M. Hurlhurt, in that city under whom he learned all branches of mill work. From an apprentice he rose to the position of general superintendent and remained for eight years in that establishment. He was afterward with the David H. Clark Company of New Haven in the posi-tion of foreman for eight years and resigned his position in 1906 to establish his present busi-ness.

The business was incorporated January 2, 1911, since which time Mr. Gibbud has been president. The firm employs on an average of fifty people and theirs is one of the leading establishments of the kind in New Haven. They have gained a good clientage throughout the state and are conducting an extensive wholesale and retail lumber business in addition to manufacturing all kinds of building supplies. Their plant has an area of sixty-five thousand square feet of floor space and the factory is equipped with the latest and most improved modern machinery for carrying on work of that kind. In addition they do a general contracting business, which constitutes an important branch of their interests, and the company is now enjoying a very gratifying measure of success. Mr. Gibbud has closely studied every phase of the trade and has developed his business along well defined lines, forming his plans carefully and carrying them forward to successful completion.

On the 1st of July, 1902, Mr. Gibbud was united in marriage to Miss Nettie Rice, a native of Waterbury, born April 2, 1877, and a daughter of Anson and Lucy Rice. They were of a very old family and were related to the Barnes family, well known and prominent in Waterbury. Her father is now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Gibbud have been born three children: Eloise Marie, born September 29, 1905; Mervin J., Jr., born September 4, 1907; and Virginia, born October 31, 1913. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Gibbud taught school in the Webster school, Waterbury, acting also as assistant principal for six years. She is a lady of liberal culture and of marked intellectual development and she is a valued member of the Society of Colonial Dames and also of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Mr. Gibbud holds membership with the National Association of Manufacturers of the United States and with the Connecticut State Association of Manufacturers. He belongs to the New Haven Chamber of Commerce and is interested in all those forces which are working for the development and upbuilding of the city, the extension of its trade relations and the development of civic welfare. He holds to high standards both of manhood and of citizenship and commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he has come in contact, while his business policy, forceful and resourceful, has brought him out of humble surroundings into important manufacturing associations.