With thorough college training Clarence Gilman Spalding entered upon his chosen life work and is now president of the Spalding Drug Company, which owns and controls one of the leading drug stores of New Haven. He was born July 30, 1876, in the city which is still his home. His grandparents were Abial and Mary (Blanchard) Spalding, the former a graduate of Yale College with the Bachelor of Philosophy degree. His father, Warren A. Spalding was a native of Windsor, Vermont, and a descendant of an old Vermont family of English lineage. The family was founded in America by John Spalding, who came to this country in 1660 and settled in Massachusetts. Some of the early ancestors were soldiers of the Revolutionary war.
     Warren A. Spalding, the father of Clarence Gilman Spalding, was a graduate of Yale and was a druggist. He established the present business in 1872 and in the later years of his life he was the president of the Tradesman Bank of New Haven, thus becoming an active factor in the business circles of the city in which he lived. In politics he maintained an independent course but he took a very active and helpful part in civic matters and promoted the welfare of his city in every possible way. He served as president of the board of education and when New Haven wished to build a new postoffice at the corner of Court and Chapel streets he sold to the government that property which he owned, that the entire people might be benefited thereby, making the sale at eighty thousand dollars less than the actual value of the property. This was an indication of the civic spirit which ever prompted him, as he put forth the utmost effort to benefit New Haven in every possible way. He died in 1911, at the age of sixty-six years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Myra Sanborn, was the daughter of Gilman and Clara (Osgood) Sanborn. She died in 1909, at the age of sixty-two years. In their family were five children, all of whom are yet living. Henry is a lawyer practicing his profession in Philadelphia. Clarence is the next of the family. Edward B. is manager and president of the Gilbert Manufacturing Company of New Haven. Ruth L. is the wife of Otis Bigelow, a well known educator of Exeter, New Hampshire Emily S. is the wife of S. C. Merwin, a wholesale auto dealer of New York.
     At the usual age Clarence G. Spalding began his education as a public school pupil in New Haven, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school with the class of 1894. He then entered Yale and won the Bachelor of Philosophy degree with the class of 1898. He afterward graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine with the Ph. G. degree in 1900 and for three years he was a chemist with the Parke Davis Company of Detroit. On returning to New Haven he took up the business which his father had established and after three years purchased it. He has since incorporated it under the name of the Spalding Drug Company but he is the sole stockholder. He has a splendidly appointed store and his business methods are such as insure him a liberal patronage, for at all times he desires to please his patrons and is thoroughly reliable in his business methods.
     On the 17th of February, 1914, Mr. Spalding was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. McLaughlin, a native of New Haven and a daughter of John and Mary McLaughlin, who were early settlers and representatives of a prominent family of this city. They now have one son, John S. Spalding, who was born in New Haven, November 27, 1915.
     Mr. Spalding is well known in this city, where his entire life has been passed, and his many excellent traits of character both as a man and as a citizen have brought him the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and he is also a member of the Graduates Club. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Calvary Baptist church. He has had military experience, having formerly been identified with the Governor's Foot Guard. He is alert and energetic, watchful of all opportunities pointing to success in business and of all opportunities point-ing to the development of the city, and he utilizes the latter just as readily and just as effectively as he does the former.