There is much that is stimulating in the life history of George A. Kilborn, if one thoughtfully considers the methods that he has employed in winning the success which is now his. He is at the head of the Kilborn & Bishop Company, drop forgings and forged hardware, situated on East Chapel, Lloyd and River streets, which is classed among the largest enterprises of the kind in Connecticut.
     He was born in New Haven in 1853 and is a son of George F. and Sophia P. (Davis) Kilborn, whose ancestors came to Connecticut in 1635.
     All down the line the Kilborns have been especially interested in mechanics. One, a Jonathan Kilborn, invented the first machinery for cutting screws. This was about 1750. Another was associated along mechanical lines with Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin.
     The grandfather of Mr. Kilborn, whose name was Aaron, owned and conducted a manufacturing plant on Whitney avenue and Audubon streets, manufacturing steam engines and boilers, about the first in New Haven.
     The father of George A. Kilborn of this review, George F., conducted a paper and twine business on State street for a number of years.
     George A. Kilborn received a public school education with a year at the Boys' school in Armenia, New York. Later he went to Plantsville, Connecticut, where he was employed along mechanical lines, learning the die sinking trade, and afterwards moved to Derby to become superintendent of the Wilcox & Howe Company. Here he spent four years, and then went back to Plantsville to become a partner in the Blakeslee Company, where he remained eleven years. From there he came back to his old home city, New Haven, and started a small manufacturing plant at Lloyd and River streets which through his perseverance and self denial, as well as that of his partner, maintained a steady growth for a number of years. This plant now covers four-fifths of a block and employs eighty-five to one hundred workmen.
     It is one of the most complete drop-forging plants of the state being equipped with the latest improved machinery and having excellent tracking facilities for receiving its stock and shipping its output, being known through the world for the excellence of its tools and forgings.
     Mr. Kilborn is also owner of the paper and twine business, formerly conducted by his father, under the name of Kilborn Bros., at 494 State street.
     In 1876 Mr. Kilborn was married to Miss Mary Charlotte Bliss, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Bliss, of an old Massachusetts family.
     Their children are four in number: Charlotte Sophia, who died in 1901; Marjorie Bliss, who is well known in the vocal profession; Myra Cannon, a graduate of Wellesley College; and Holloway, who received the first degree of electrical engineer conferred by Yale University. He is now associated with his father in the Kilborn & Bishop Company.
     Mr. Kilborn is a member of the Dwight Place Congregational church where he has been a deacon and superintendent of the Sunday school.