Samuel Holt (weaver)
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Samuel Holt (weaver) | |
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| Born | February 7, 1811 Taunton, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire |
| Died | September 16, 1887 |
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Samuel Holt (7 February 1811 – 16 September 1887) born in Taunton, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, was a weaver, inventor and industrialist. He came from a humble background starting work aged 7 in the cotton mills and went on to invent a loom to produce Turkish towels (Terry towels), move to the US and set up his own company.
Life
Aged seven he started work at Otho Hulme & Sons, print works in Droylsden. Two years later, his father John Holt apprenticed him to work with him in the cotton and silk weaving side of Otho Hulme & Sons business, where he worked until he was twenty-five.[1]
In 1864, Holt was persuaded by a Charles A. Buckley to immigrate to the USA. Samuel Holt left his employer of thirty years and immigrated to America, and helped build and set up the American Velvet Company. Holt brought with him 20 – 30 experienced hands (some family members) from Ashton Under Lyne.
He first worked at a Mill on Bank Street, Newark New Jersey until The American Velvet Company Mill was built on Essex and Madison, Paterson New Jersey and which still stands today. By 1866-67, the firm took some of Holt's other patents and sold them for $250,000 but soon ran into lawsuits and the partnership failed.[1] Holt is reputed to have taken heavy loss in the legal battle, but in an article written by his son William Holt in Textile World Journal, he stated that “my father never lost a fortune or any part of one in business”[2]
He continued as Samuel Holt & Co. The company prospered and he soon employed 30 operatives making Turkish towels, silks, velvet and plushes. His next mill was the Franklin Mill built (1871) in Paterson New Jersey, and when that burnt down he built a mill (1872) for himself in the rear of his residence at 108 Straight Street, Paterson New Jersey. The mill was, thirty-two by fifty-two feet, three stories high. From 1870 to 1879 his half-brother, Robert Holt, was in partnership with him. The firm changed to Samuel Holt & Sons, - Samuel Holt, Jr., and William Holt being the younger members[1][3]
In 1914, his grandson, Samuel Holt Jr., carried on the business.
Personal life
Holt first married in 1833, Elisabeth Hibbert, of Taunton, Ashton-under-Lyne, who died in 1841, leaving two sons, John, b. 1834 and James, b. 1836, both of whom stayed in England. His second wife was Ann Aspinall, whom he married in 1847, and who died in Paterson, December 3, 1881, leaving three children, — Samuel, b. 1848, William, b. 1855, and Mary Ann (Annie) b. 1857.[1]
The Holt family were a christian family following the Swedenborgian faith.[1]
Samuel Holt's father, John, resided at Woodhouses, near Ashton-under-Lyne, and was a silk and cotton-weaver by occupation. He spent the latter part of his life as general manager and book-keeper of a cotton-mill, and died in 1865, aged seventy-eight years. Samuel's mother, Hanna Kirk, died in 1816, aged twenty-seven years, leaving three children,—Samuel, James, and Elizabeth. By other marriages, John Holt had several children, some of whom moved to America.[1]
James was a silk hat-plush finisher, died in 1868, Paterson, New Jersey.
Thomas was a Silk weaver, died in 1886, Bergen, New Jersey.
Robert was a Towel Manufacturer, died in 1915, Frankford, Pennsylvania.
Patents attributed to Samuel Holt
24 March 1851 – improvement in the manufacture of textile fabrics UK Patent No. 13572 [4]
24 September 1851 – Certain improvements in the manufacture of textile fabrics. Irish Patent [5]
15 November 1852 – improvement in weaving cut piled fabrics. Patent No. 761 [6]
11 April 1855 – improvement in weaving plush or piled fabrics. Patent No. 801 [7]
13 January 1859 – a new or improved manufacture of woven silk fabrics. Patent No. 122 [8]
7 March 1865 – weaving pile fabric US Patent 46754. [9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Clayton, W. Woodford (1882). History of Bergen and Passaic counties. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck. pp. 418, 419, 483, 484. ISBN 978-0331555622.
- ↑ Holt, William (13 Oct 1917). "Correction". Textile World Journal. New York, USA: Textile Industries Media Group. 53 (15): 35 & 74 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Shick, Andrew (2001). Historic County News letter of The Passaic county Historical society (PDF) (Volume 3 Issue 3 ed.). Passaic, New Jersey: The Passaic county Historical society. p. 11.
- ↑ The Repertory of patent inventions and other discoveries and improvements in arts, manufactures and agriculture. Vol. XVII (Enlarged Series ed.). London: Alexander Mackintosh. 1851. p. 256.
- ↑ The Repertory of patent inventions and other discoveries and improvements in arts, manufactures and agriculture (ENLARGED SERIES—VOL. XVIII. ed.). London: Alexander Mackintosh. 1851. p. 389.
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1852 (1853), 755 - 812. Printed by- George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode (755 - 812 ed.). London: H.M. Stationery Office. 1854. pp. Patent No.761.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1855, 779 - 850. Printed by- George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode (779 - 850 ed.). London: H M Stationery Office. 1855. pp. Patent No.801.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1859, 82 - 137. Printed by - George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode (82 - 137 ed.). London: H M Stationery Office. 1859. pp. Patent No.122.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ↑ Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1865 (Vol 1 ed.). Washington: Washington GPO. 1865. pp. 189 US patent 46754.
External links
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