Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

among his fellow-townsmen in Simsbury
he is held in high esteem.
Mr. Croft married, in 1872, at Simsbury,
Julia Mather, daughter of William
and Emma (Phelps) Mather, a descendant
of two of the oldest families of Con-
necticut.
Rev. Mr. Croft has been an extensive
traveler. He has been to Europe two
times, and has visited the Holy Land,
Egypt, and the Orient. The Nile river
country and Asia Minor he has also vis-
ited, and has journeyed extensively
through South America, Panama and the
West Indies. On all of these journeyings
he has made frequent lectures and
delivered many addresses.
PRENTICE, George E.,
Manufacturer, Inventor.
The success achieved by George E.
Prentice, president of the G. E. Prentice
Manufacturing Company of New Britain,
manufacturers of sheet metal and wire
goods, was not through accident, but by
the constant application of effort. From
the very outset of his career, as an ap-
prentice in a jewelry establishment, he
manifested the energy and good judgment
which have been important factors
throughout his business life.
Mr. Prentice was born in 1870 in Eng-
land, and as a boy of thirteen came to the
United States, and to New Britain, Con-
necticut. Soon afterwards he entered the
employ of the Churchill & Lewis Company,
the oldest jewelry manufacturing
concern in the country, and there served
his apprenticeship as jeweler. Upon their
moving to New York, Mr. Prentice, desiring
to remain in New Britain, became
associated with the Traut & Hine Manu-
facturing Company to learn the trade of
tool making. He found this work much
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
30
more to his liking, and possessed of nat-
ural mechanical ability, he made rapid
progress. In the short space of two years
he was promoted to superintendent of the
plant. At that time it was rather a small
concern ; Mr. Prentice remained in the em-
ploy of the firm until 1912, and enjoyed
the satisfaction of seeing the business
grow and expand until it increased to
half a million dollar company and carried
about six hundred and twenty-five em-
ployees. In the latter year Mr. Prentice
resigned his position and organized the
G. E. Prentice Manufacturing Company,
and he was elected president of the organ-
ization. In the short space of the six
years intervening, a million dollar .busi-
ness has been built up. It is therefore
hardly necessary to go into detail about
the business acumen and judgment of Mr.
Prentice, to whose efforts and untiring
industry much of this success is due. The
corporation ranks among the leading bus-
iness institutions of New Britain, and its
officers are men of high standing in the
community. The inventive genius of Mr.
Prentice has been ever at work, and dur-
ing his years with the Traut & Hine firm
he took out a number of patents which he
assigned to his employers. He has continued
to improve and patent many mechanical
appliances which are used and
controlled by his own company.
Mr. Prentice married Edith M. Chal-
oner, a native of New Britain, a daughter
of W. T. Chaloner. Four daughters : Le-
nore, Mildred, Dorothv, and Edith.
BRAY, Henry T.,
Physician, Health Officer.
During the sixteen years of practice of
his profession in New Britain, Connect-
icut, Dr. Bray has won for himself a well
deserved place of recognition. He came