MORRIS M. PUKLIN.

  In the year 1890 Morris M. Puklin came from Russia to the new world and started out in the business world on this side of the Atlantic at a salary of six dollars per week. In the interval he has advanced steadily in business until his annual income is now written in six figures and he is the well known president and treasurer of the [sic] The M. M. Puklin Company, general merchants doing business at 723 State street. He was born October 24, 1874, in Moscow, Russia, a son of Mayer and Rose (Bellen) Puklin, both of whom are natives of Russia and are yet living. The mother resides in New Haven, while the father is still engaged in merchandising in Moscow. In the family were three children, of whom Morris M. is the eldest.

  In the public schools Morris M. Puklin pursued his education to the age of sixteen years, when he started out to provide for his own support. Determining to try his fortune in America, he crossed the Atlantic in July, 1890, arriving in New York city, whence he made his way direct to New Haven. Here he secured employment with the Strouse-Adler Company, manufacturers of corsets, and continued in the employ of that firm for three years, beginning at a salary of six dollars per week. Out of that sum, small though it was, he managed to save something and in 1893 he resigned his position and entered the retail cigar business at No. 191 Meadow street. He continued to engage in the retail trade quite successfully for ten years and at the end of the decade turned his attention to the wholesale busines[s] at the same address. When his trade outgrew his quarters he removed to 184 State street, continuing these [sic] for two years, but because of conditions brought about by the trust he was obliged to sell his business, the New Haven Tobacco Company becoming the purchaser. He then entered his present business at 723 State street, opening a wholesale stationery store. About 1905 he incorporated his interests, his son, Herbert Puklin, becoming the secretary. From the outset the business has prospered and has shown an increase year by year, the first year’s sales amounting to only twenty thousand dollars, while at the present time the trade brings in an annual income of about three hundred thousand dollars. The firm employs six traveling salesmen and in the store and warehouse there are more than eight employes. Long since the establishment has ceased to be a stationery house, other lines being added from time to time until theirs is today one of the large general mercantile stores of New Haven. The stock is carefully selected, the prices are reasonable and the company puts forth every effort to please their patrons, knowing that there is no better advertisement. Their business methods, too, are thoroughly reliable and their undertakings are crowned with a gratifying measure of success. Mr. Puklin is also the treasurer of the New Haven Protective Association, a home builders’ association, and was one of the organizers and at one time was president, having occupied that position during the first three years of the existence of the association.

  One the 25th of March, 1894, in New Haven, Mr. Puklin was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Gans, a native of Russia and a daughter of Max and Eva (Dorman) Gans, the latter now deceased, while the former is a resident of New Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Puklin have become parents of six children: Herbert, William, Arthur, Sadie, Edward and Marvin, all born in New Haven.

  Mr. Puklin is a Mason, belonging to Hiram Lodge, No. 1, F. & A. M., and he also has membership in Hejaz Grotto, No. 42. He is connected with the Knights of Pythias, with Yale Conclave, with the Harugari, the Automobile Club, the Masonic Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and he adheres to the religious faith of his forefathers.

  During his early residence in New Haven Mr. Puklin attended night school and thus learned the English language as well as adding to his store of information. He did this as a step toward the attainment of success in business and from the initial point in his career he has steadily progressed, working his way upward from a humble place in commercial circles until he stands in the front rang [sic] among the leading business men of his adopted city. Laudable ambition has actuated him at every point in his career. He has never feared to venture where favoring opportunity has led the way. He is fortunate in possessing character and ability that inspire confidence in others, and the simple weight of his character and ability has carried him into important relations. Moreover, his life indicates what may be accomplished when there is a will to dare and to do. The door of opportunity swings open before the resolute demand of the man of energy and in a country where effort is unhampered by caste or class Mr. Puklin has steadily climbed until his present position gives him a broad outlook and still wider opportunities.