Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

James D. and Elizabeth (Crowley) Whip-
ple, was born in Bristol, Connecticut,
May i, 1885, and there began his educa-
tion in the public schools. He finished
classical study at St. Thomas Seminary,
Hartford, then began professional study
at Yale Medical School, whence he was
graduated M. D., class of 1907. From
graduation, December, 1908, he was pro-
fessionally connected with St. Francis
Hospital, then he returned to Bristol and
established in private practice. He is a
member of the American Medical Asso-
ciation, Connecticut State Medical So-
ciety, Hartford County Medical Society,
and is highly regarded by his profes-
sional brethren. He is a member of the
Medical Advisory Board of Bristol and
Plainville. For the past seven years he
has been post surgeon with the rank
of lieutenant in the Connecticut State
Guards. He is a member of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and
the Knights of Columbus.
Dr. Whipple married, in June, 1913,
Bertha L. Kane, daughter of James A.
and Margaret (Burns) Kane. They are
the parents of a daughter, Mary, born
July 7, 1915.
GEARING, Charles M.,
Manufacturing Executive.
To New England the manufacturing
world of America has looked for many
years for the more ingenious and intri-
cate devices of a mechanical nature. It
has been the center of the Western Hem-
isphere so far as the manufacture of
clocks is concerned. Since the beginning
of the decline in the clock industry, Yan-
kee ingenuity has not failed to invent
numerous small mechanisms which have
upheld, and very materially enhanced, the
reputation of the locality for manufactured
products. But it remained for men
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382
of superior executive powers to build up
these manufacturing ventures into the
immense plants that now produce these
devices by the million, and under the
supervision of these men the plants run
like the very clock-work which New Eng-
land has made a synonym for efficiency.
A branch of one of these great factories
forms the most important industry in
Elmwood, one of the newer suburbs of
Hartford, and the -man at the head is
Charles M. Gearing.
The name of Gearing belongs to that
class of surnames derived from the customs
and implements of warfare, and this
name is the surviving form of the word
meaning "spear." The old German form
is found as far back as the eighth cen-
tury. In the old Anglo-Saxon form it is
found Gar, and in the old Norse, Geir.
Other forms of the same derivation are
Gore and Gare, with the suffix "ing" added,
making the compound, Gearing, Goring
or Garing. The name appears in Ireland
in 1642, members of the family having
gone to Ireland under the Acts and Ordinances
of Subscription of Charles I.
John Joseph Gearing, father of Charles
M. Gearing, was born in the North of Ireland,
and came to America as a young
man, locating first in Waterbury. He was
a very ambitious young man, and being
anxious to establish himself in business,
he learned the trade of a baker. At an
early period in his career as a baker, he
received a physical injury which made it
impossible for him to follow his trade.
He removed to Bridgeport, and was with
the Howe Sewing Machine Company until
1877, when he went to Thomaston and
was employed in the Seth Thomas Clock
Factory until ill health compelled him to
give up active employment. He died in
Waterbury in 1899. It was in Waterbury,
Connecticut, that he married Mary
.Sophia Fredekra Hoelze, of the city of