From messenger to bank president is a long step and yet the path thereto is clearly marked out. Adaptability, fidelity and close application are the qualities which one must possess and utilize in order to win such a position, and an analyzation of the life record of Harry V. Whipple shows that these qualities have been the salient features in his business career, bringing him from the humblest bank position to the presidency of the Merchants National Bank of New Haven. As such he is now active in establishing the policy and controlling the interests of one of the strongest financial institutions of his sec-tion of the state.

Mr. Whipple was born in Meriden, August 21, 1871, a son of Henry J. P. and Victoria Fidelia (Couch) Whipple, who were natives of Lowell, Massachusetts, and Meriden, Connecticut, respectively. On leaving his native state the father established his home at Meriden, where he organized the Parker-Whipple Company for the manufacture of hardware. This firm is still in existence, although the father sold out some years ago and removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he again engaged in the hardware business. He afterward returned to Connecticut, establishing his home in New Haven, where he passed away in 1910, at the age of seventy-five years. His widow is now a resident of Meriden. In the family were four children: Frank, living in New Haven; Norman C., a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. George H. Yeamans, of Meriden; and Harry V.

The last named pursued his education in the public and high schools of Meriden and of New Haven, but ere the completion of his course had entered upon his business career as a clerk in the latter city. He next took up the study of law with the firm of Bristol, Stoddard & Bristol, with whom he remained for a year and a half, when he abandoned the idea of becoming a member of the bar and secured the position of messenger in the Merchants National Bank. He has since advanced through various intermediate positions up to the presidency, to which he was elected in 1912. This bank is capitalized for five hundred thousand dollars and has surplus and undivided profits of five hundred thousand dollars, while its deposits amount to about four million dollars. It has a strong directorate, including some of the best known business men of New Haven, and its officers in addition to Mr. Whipple are: L. H. English and H. C. Warren, vice presidents; and J. F. Stannard, cashier. A general banking department is conducted, affording every commercial banking service. The bank through its trust department acts as trustee, depository, registrar of stocks and bonds and transfer agent. A foreign department is also maintained meeting the demands and requirements of their patrons in connection with their foreign business. The business of the bank has been most carefully and thoroughly systematized, every effort being put forth to safeguard the interests of depositors and develop the business of the bank along legitimate lines.

On the 5th of October, 1897, in New Haven, Mr. Whipple was married to Miss Elizabeth Young, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Young, and they have become parents of one child, Oliver Mayhew, who was born in New Haven in 1901 and is now attending Andover Academy of Andover, Massachusetts.

Mr. and Mrs. Whipple are members of St. John's Episcopal church and Mr. Whipple has taken the degrees of Masonry in its various branches and has become a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to all of the more important clubs of New Haven and is a past president of the Quinnipiac Club. He is a vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and is president of the New Haven Chapter of the American Red Cross. The city ranks him with its leading men, for his ability has brought him prominence and success in business and has placed him in positions of leadership in many other connections. He is always interested in those questions which are to the statesman and the thinking man of the gravest import and his opinions are always thoughtfully considered, for it is recognized that his sagacity is keen and his judgment sound. Like many of the residents of New Haven, he traces his ancestry back through the various generations of an old New England family of English origin, founded in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1638, and he manifests the same quality of patriotism and of public-spirited devotion to the general good that has characterized his forebears.