Hannibal stayed in the family business and the carriage business. He moved first to Norway, Maine, and later to the largest carriage manufacturing center, New Haven, Connecticut, where he partnered with his brothers George and John in a business making coach carvings and carriage parts later taken over by G .& D. Cook & Co Carriage Makers. Kimball was made partner in the company after the takeover. The carriage company flourished, and by 1860 it had over 300 employees. Many of their customers were in the South, and after the start of the American Civil War many debts went unpaid and the business failed.