| Notes |
- In early life he ws employed at home in the making of cards used in the manufacture of cotton cloth, and thus acquired some of the ides of machinery which he afterwards applied in the invention of the sewing machine. He lived with his father until 1835, when he went to Lowell, mass., and obtianed a situation in a manufactory of cotton machinery, where he stayed for a coule of years, and then went to Cambridge, Mass., and got employment in a machine shop. In a few months he went to Boston, and obtained employment in a shop kept by one Ori Davis for the manufacture of nautical and philosophical instruments, and it was there, that he first conceived the idea of inventing the sewing machine, and he began work upon it about the year 1843. He receved some pecuniary assistance from a former school mate, George Fisher, and in 1845 he produced a machine for which he afterwards secured a patent.
He vainly endeavored to interest the tailors of Boston in the invention, but they wouold have nothing to do with it and becoming discouraged, he took employment for several months as a railroad engineer. in 1847 he and his borhter Amasa B. Howe, went to England to endeavor to introduce the invention there. Soon after his wife and three children joined him in London. While there he obtained employment in the establishment of William Thomas, who contracted with Elias to adapt his machine to the manufacture of corsets. After a few months, in consequence of some disagreement with his employer he was discharged. This seemed to have been the darkest period of his life; his invention appeared to be a failure, and all his years of labor upon it to have gone for naught. He was out of employment and out of means, his wife was in failing health and he was in a strange land, and far from home and kindred.
By extraordinary exertions and exonomy, and the help of a few friends, he managed to raise money to send his wife and children back to America, and in 1849 he followed, landing in New York with only half a crown in his pocket. He soon found employment in a machine shop, but soon received new that his wife was dying in cambridge. He was so poor that he was compelled to borrow money to go to Cambridge, and was bobliged to attend the funeral of hiw wife in his daily working clothes. Soon after, the news came that all his household goods had been lost in the wreck of the vessel in which they were shipped. He spent several years trying to re-purchase the rights which he had sold in the years of adversity, and in lawsuits with infringers upon his patent.
At last in 1854 the validity of his patent was established and this was the turning point in his fortunes. He was recognized as the real inventor of the sewing machine, his invention containing the essential features of all other machines, and his income soon reached an enormous sum, it being estabmated that at the expiration of his patent, he had realized about $2,000,000. He received many medals and other marks of appreciation of his invention, including a gold medal and a Cross of the Legion of HOnor at the Paris Exposition in 1867.
During the Civil war Mr. Howe was a zealous supporter of the Government, being largely instrumental in recruiting the 17th Regt. Conn. Vols., in which he enlisted as a private, and in which he served until he was compelled to leave the service by reason of failing health. At one time while he was in the service and the government was in financial straits, Mr. Howe advanced the money with which to pay the soldeirs of the regiment.
Daniel Wait Howe – 1929
|
1819 - 1867
Home
Search
Print
Login
Add Bookmark
[1, 2, 3] 
Find
Surnames
Bookmarks
Places
Dates
Cemeteries
Search
Photos
Documents
Histories
Recordings
Videos
Albums
All Media
What's New
Most Wanted
Reports
Statistics
Notes
Sources
Repositories
Contact Us
Individual
Ancestors
Descendants
Relationship
Timeline
Suggest
= Link to Google Maps