Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2022 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== New York Tribune Saturday, 5 October 1867 Obituary ELIAS HOWE, JR., the inventor of the Sewing-Machine, died at 5 o'clock p.m. on Thursday, at the residence of his son- in-law, Mr. LEVI STOCKWELL, No. 8 Willow st., Brooklyn. His malady was a complicated affection of the liver and kidneys, which terminated in dropsy. About two months ago Mr. HOWE lay at the point of death at Bridgeport, Conn. The best physician considered his case hopeless. Mrs. METTLER a clairvoyant physician of New York, was summoned as the last resort. He then contrary to all expectations, rapidly recovered, and in twelve days was able to travel and came to this city. About a week ago he went to Coney Island with a number of friends, and there caught a severe cold, and a visit to Central Park a few days before his death added to this cold and prostrated him. On the day of his death he sat up in bed. He sank away peacefully, and his death, though not altogether unexpected, was a surprise to his friends. He leaves a son and two daughters ELIAS HOWE, JR., was born in 1819, at Spencer, in Massa- chusetts, where his father was a farmer and miller. After working some years on his father's farm, he was induced to visit Lowell, where he obtained a learner's place in a large manufactory of cotton machinery, remaining there till the enforced close of the Lowell mills in 1837. He then found employment in a large machine shop at Cambridge in which he worked a few months, after which he went to Boston, and was engaged by a mechanic of that city, named DAVIS, to assist him in his shop. It was while he was in Boston that the attention of young HOWE was accidentally drawn to the construction of a sewing-machine, the notion of such a machine being earnestly suggested by DAVIS in a conversation with HOWE and another person. The idea, once started, took possession of HOWE'S mind, and for years he meditated upon the possibility of giving effect to it. After years of thought and tedious labor, during which he frequently suffered severely for want of the common neces- saries of life, he at length succeeded in constructing the model of a machine for doing the work of the hand in sewing. Having reached this point, he determined to proscribe his labors, being convinced that with time and patience he would yet succeed in making such a machine as would super- cede the work of the fingers in the labors of the needle. Being dependent upon his exertions as a journeyman mechanic for daily bread, he found it exceedingly difficult to fol- low up what he had commenced; but the considerate kindness of a friend enabled him to devote himself entirely to the perfecting of his inventions, which he followed up with unremitting zeal that in about nine months from the time when this assistance was accepted by him he had completed his work. This was in May, 1845. But after the machine had been finished, and its qualities fairly tested, Mr. HOWE found no encouragement to push his invention. On the con- trary, he met with the most discouraging opposition from the tailors of Boston. Not a single machine was ordered. Some tailors objected that the machine did not make the whole garment. Others dreaded to encounter the fierce opposition of the journeymen. Others really thought it would beggar all hand-sewers, and refrained from using it on principle. Others admitted the utility of the machine and the excellence of the work done by it, but, said they, "We are doing well as we are, and fear to make such ex- change." And the great cost of the machine was a most serious obstacle to its introduction, for in 1845 Mr. HOWE could not furnish his machines for less than $300, and a large clothier or shirt-maker would have required 30 or 40 of them. Not disheartened by the opposition, Mr. HOWE succeeded in obtaining a patent for the invention, and, as it had been rejected here, he determined upon trying his fortune with England. He accordingly sent it thither toward the end of the year 1846 by his brother, AMASA B. HOWE, who disposed of it in London for two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, to one WILLIAM THOMAS, with the understanding that the purchaser was to patent the invention in England, and if the machine should come into use there, he was to pay the inventor three pounds on every machine sold. Subsequently ELIAS himself went over to England, and labored for eight months with THOMAS, during which time he adapted the machine to the purposes of the stay-maker. Falling out with his employer, and finding himself in very straitened circumstances, Mr. HOWE resolved upon returning to New York, and landed here in April, 1849, after an absence of two years from the coun- try, with half-a-crown in his pocket. Here he learned that his wife was dying of consumption at Cambridge. He had landed in New York, and was so poor at the moment that he could not make the journey to Cambridge, but he fortunately obtained employment for a few weeks, and was thus enabled to reach his wife's bedside to receive her last blessings. In the mean time his invention had been gradually becoming known in America, and he found on his return that some machinists and others in Boston and elsewhere were making sewing-machines in a rude, imperfect manner, several of which had been sold to manufacturers, and were in daily operation. He immediately took the needful steps to se- cure his rights against the infringers, and after years of litigation he obtained a judicial decision affirming the validity of his patent. From that time extraordinary success attended him. From a few hundreds a year his in- come rapidly increased, until it went beyond $175,000. It is calculated that at the time when the patent expired, September 10, 1867, he had received $2,000,000. As Mr. HOWE devoted 27 years of his life to the invention and development of the sewing-machine, the public compensated him at the rate of $75,000 a year; but it cost him immense sums to defend his rights. At the Paris Exposition of this year the only gold medal for American sewing-machines was awarded to Mr. HOWE, who also received the additional award of the Cross of the Legion of Honor as manufacturer and inventor. ELIAS HOWE was a patriot. During the war he assumed the uniform of a private soldier, and, refusing to accept a commission, for a time served in the ranks. On several occasions, when the paymasters were unable to reach his regiment, he furnished the funds necessary to pay the men. The representatives of the sewing-machine companies in this city yesterday met and passed a series of resolutions in his honor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boston Evening Transcript Monday, 7 October 1867 FUNERAL OF ELIAS HOWE, JR., The funeral of ELIAS HOWE, JR., the inventor of the sewing machine, who died in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Friday last, took place yesterday afternoon, in Cambridge, in the Universalist church. It was largely attended by men of prominence, and was interesting and impressive. Out of respect to the memory of the deceased inventor, the principal sewing machine dealers in Boston closed their offices and stores at noon on Saturday, and were well represented at the funeral. ================================================================================