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{{Short description|American inventor and businessman (1811–1875)}}
{{About||the Polish-American writer|Isaac Bashevis Singer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Isaac Singer
| image = Edward Harrison May - Isaac Merrit Singer - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption = Singer in 1869
| birth_date = {{birth date|1811|10|27|}}
| birth_place = [[Pittstown, New York]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1875|7|23|1811|10|27}}
| death_place = [[Paignton, Devon]], U.K.
| education =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
*{{marriage|Catherine Maria Haley|1830|1860|reason=div}}
*{{marriage|[[Isabella Eugenie Boyer]]|June 13, 1863}}
}}
| partner = Mary Ann Sponsler (1836–1861)
<!--Mary McGonigal
|Mary Eastwood Walters-->
| children = 26
| known_for = Founder of the [[Singer Corporation|Singer Sewing Machine Company]]
}}
'''Isaac Merritt Singer''' (October 27, 1811 – July 23, 1875) was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the [[sewing machine]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2020-06-12|title=The Story of Singer Sewing Machines in Scotland|url=https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2020/06/sew-on-and-sew-forth/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Historic Environment Scotland Blog|language=en}}</ref> and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-national businesses, the [[Singer Corporation|Singer Sewing Machine Company]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Threads of life : a history of the world through the eye of a needle|last=Hunter|first=Clare|publisher=Sceptre (Hodder & Stoughton)|year=2019|isbn=978-1473687912|___location=London|pages=256–266, 269–271|oclc=1079199690}}</ref>
Many others, including [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] and [[Elias Howe]], had patented sewing machines<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ismacs.net/sewing_machine_history.html|title=History of the Sewing Machine|last=Forsdyke|first=Graham|website=International Sewing Machine Collectors Society|access-date=2019-06-30}}</ref> before Singer, but his success was based on the practicality of his machine, the ease with which it could be adapted to home use and its availability on an [[hire purchase|installments payment basis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shveya.org/history_zinger/ |script-title=ru:История создания корпорации "Зингер". Биография Исаака Меррита Зингера. |trans-title=All About Sewing Machines – The History of Singer Corporation |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612054323/http://www.shveya.org/history_zinger/ |archive-date=2008-06-12 }}</ref>
Singer died in 1875, dividing his $13 million fortune unequally among 20 of his living children by his wives and various mistresses, although one son, who had supported his mother in her divorce case against Singer, received only $500.<ref name=":0" /> Altogether, he fathered 26 children by five different women.
==Early life==
Isaac Merritt Singer was born on October 27, 1811, in [[Pittstown, New York|Pittstown]], [[Schaghticoke (town), New York|Schaghticoke, New York]].<ref name=":0" /> He was the youngest of eight children<ref name="Isaac Merritt Singer">{{Cite web |title=Isaac Merritt Singer |url=https://thesewingstuffs.com/the-sewing-machine-impact-society/ |website=thesewingstuffs.com|date=April 2023 }}</ref> born to a German father, Adam Singer (né '''Reisinger''')<ref name="Isaac Merritt Singer"/> (1772–1855), and his American wife, Ruth ([[née]] Benson) Singer.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Singer Sewing Machine is Patented {{!}} History Today|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/singer-sewing-machine-patented|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.historytoday.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=r2WPadmin|title=Isaac Merritt Singer|url=https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/isaac-merritt-singer/|access-date=2020-11-22|website=Immigrant Entrepreneurship|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Hughes|first=Sharon|date=August 27, 2014|url=https://scholarworks.uttyler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=history_grad|title=Isaac Merritt Singer: a womanizer who liberated women|publisher=[[University of Texas at Tyler]]|access-date=November 13, 2021}}</ref> His siblings were John Valentine Singer, Alexander Singer, Elizabeth (née Singer) Colby, Christiana (née Singer) Cleveland, and Elijah Singer. {{Citation needed|date=June 2019}} In 1821, his parents divorced and his mother abandoned Isaac.<ref name=":0" /> At twelve, he ran away from home to join a traveling stage act, called the Rochester Players, after finding bits of work as a joiner and lathe operator.<ref name="pbs" /><ref name=":0" />
==Career==
In 1839, Singer obtained his first patent, for a machine to drill rock, selling it for $2,000 (or over $150,000 in 2024 dollars) to the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal|I & M Canal Building Company]]. With this financial success, he opted to return to his career as an actor. He went on tour, forming a troupe known as the "Merritt Players", appearing onstage under the name "Isaac Merritt", with Mary Ann Sponsler (one of his mistresses) also appearing onstage, calling herself "Mrs. Merritt".{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} The tour lasted about five years.
He developed and patented a "machine for carving wood and metal" on April 10, 1849.
At 38, with Mary Ann and eight children, he packed up his family and moved back to New York City, hoping to market his wood-block cutting machine. He obtained an advance to build a working prototype, and constructed one in A. B. Taylor & Co shop, where he met [[G. B. Zieber]], who became Singer's financier and partner. However, not long after the machine was built, the steam boiler blew up at the shop, destroying the prototype. Zieber persuaded Singer to make a new start in [[Boston]], a center of the printing trade. Singer went to Boston in 1850 to display his invention at the machine shop of Orson C. Phelps. Orders for Singer's wood cutting machine were not, however, forthcoming.
Lerow & Blodgett sewing machines were being constructed and repaired in Phelps' shop. Phelps asked Singer to look at the sewing machines,<ref name=pbs>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/singer_hi.html |title=Isaac Merritt Singer |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |access-date=March 10, 2011}}</ref> which were difficult to use and produce. Singer concluded that the sewing machine would be more reliable if the shuttle moved in a straight line rather than a circle, with a straight rather than a curved needle. Singer was able to obtain US Patent number 8294 for his improvements on August 12, 1851.
===I. M. Singer & Co===
In 1856, manufacturers Grover & Baker, Singer, Wheeler & Wilson, all accusing each other of [[patent infringement]], met in [[Albany, New York]] to pursue their suits. [[Orlando B. Potter]], a lawyer and president of the Grover and Baker Company, proposed that, rather than squander their profits on litigation, they pool their patents. This was the first [[patent pool]], a process which enables the production of complicated machines without legal battles over patent rights.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hounshell|first1=David|title=From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States|date=1985|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|___location=Baltimore/London|isbn=978-0801831584|page=[https://archive.org/details/fromamericansyst0000houn/page/67 67]|quote=litigation threatened the very existence of the [sewing machine] industry. The Great Sewing Machine Combination, the first important patent pooling arrangement in American history, changed all this.|url=https://archive.org/details/fromamericansyst0000houn/page/67}}</ref> They agreed to form the Sewing Machine Combination, but for this to be of any use, they had to secure the cooperation of [[Elias Howe]], who still held certain vital uncontested patents. Terms were arranged; Howe received a [[Royalties|royalty]] on every sewing machine manufactured.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}
Sewing machines began to be mass-produced. I. M. Singer & Co manufactured 2,564 machines in 1856, and 13,000 in 1860 at a new plant on [[Mott Street]] in New York. Later, a massive plant was built near [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/trade-literature/sewing-machines/browse-lists/all-libraries.htm|title=Sewing Machines: Historical Trade Literature in Smithsonian Institution Collections|publisher=Smithsonian Institution }}</ref>
Up to then, sewing machines had been industrial machines, made for garments, shoes, bridles and for tailors, but in 1856, smaller machines began to be marketed for home use. However, at the then enormous price of over $100 ($4,094.82 in 2024 USD), few sold.<ref name=mit>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/singer.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030302044126/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/singer.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 2, 2003 |title=Inventor of the Week / Isaac Merrit Singer (1811–1875) |publisher=[[Lemelson Foundation#Current initiatives|Lemelson-MIT Program]] |access-date=March 10, 2011}}</ref> Singer invested heavily in mass production utilizing the concept of [[interchangeable parts]] developed by [[Samuel Colt]] and [[Eli Whitney]] for their firearms. He was able to cut the price in half, while at the same time increasing his [[profit margin]] by 530%.<ref name=mit/> Singer was the first who put a family machine, "the turtle back", on the market. Eventually, the price came down to $10(about $404.23 in 2024 USD) According to [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]], "His partner, [[Edward Cabot Clark]], pioneered installment purchasing plans and accepted trade-ins, causing sales to soar."<ref name=pbs/>
Women were able to make items at home for their families or for sale and charitable groups began to support poorer women to find useful skills and respectable employment in sewing, such as the [[Ladies Work Society]] (1875), the [[Association for the Sale of Works of Ladies of Limited Mean]]s, the [[Co-operative Needlewoman's Society]] and associated magazines, pattern books and group classes began for the better off women who also wanted to have some form of useful, economic activity, which a sewing machine at home now offered.<ref name=":0" />
I. M. Singer expanded into the European market, first starting in Scotland in [[Bonnybridge]], Stirlingshire, next to the iron foundries that supplied the castings for the chassis until expansion was hindered by the expansion of the foundries around them and they then moved to Clydebank, establishing the world's largest sewing machine factory, built between 1882 and 1885, by George McKenzie in Kilbowie, [[Clydebank]], near [[Glasgow]],<ref name=":1" /> consisting of two main manufacturing buildings on three levels (one building for making the domestic machines, the other for industrial model production), with a 200 ft (over 60meters) high tower with the 'Singer' name logo and four clock faces which was the largest four-sided clock tower at the time. Singer opened the factory at Clydebank with 3,500 people making 8,000 sewing machines a week on average. The factory was linked directly to railway lines, and via stations in [[Dumbarton]] and [[Helensburgh]] to assist in distribution. Later improvements included a further two levels for the production blocks and a power station and sawmills. (Note: images of the tower and the factory's transport connections are available on the [[National Monuments Record of Scotland|Scottish National Buildings Record]])<ref name=":1" /> The factory later supplied military and home sewers, and made munitions during [[World War II]]. In 1941, the factory and area was severely damaged (losing 390,000 sq ft 36,000 sq m) in the '[[Clydebank Blitz]]' when at least 35,000 homes were damaged and 500 people, including 39 Singer workers were killed.<ref name=":1" />
Even as early as 1880, Singer machines compared favorably with their nearest competitors: information articles becoming marketing tool.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/geniusrewardedor00newyuoft|title=Genius rewarded; or, The story of the sewing machine|date=1880|publisher=New York J.J. Caulon printer|others=Gerstein – University of Toronto}}</ref> By the 1900s, this factory, controlled by the parent company, made 1.5 million machines sold around the world,<ref name=":1" /> helping the Singer company in becoming one of the first American-based [[multinational corporation]]s, with agencies in Paris and [[Rio de Janeiro]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}
Later as the Singer Manufacturing Company and its competitors expanded, due to its affordability (or purchase plan terms) by the 1940s there were 24,000 sewing classes a year running in the UK alone, and the [[Education Act 1944]] made practical dressmaking a compulsory subject for girls in all state schools.<ref name=":0" /> By the 1950s, there were [[Singer Teen-Age Sewing Classes]] and advertising campaigns to encourage girls to make their own fashions to attract boys' interest.<ref name=":0" />
===Changes to company in Europe===
[[Image:Singer grave.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Singer's grave in [[Torquay Cemetery]]]]
In 1863, I. M. Singer & Co. was dissolved by mutual consent with Edward Cabot Clark seeing Singer's reputation as a risk to growth; but the business continued with Singer owning 40% of shares and still on the board,<ref name=":0" /> as "The Singer Manufacturing Company", in 1887.
In 1871, Singer purchased an estate and settled with Isabella in [[Paignton]], Devon, England.<ref name=":0" /> He commissioned the 110-roomed [[Oldway Mansion]] as his private residence, with a hall of mirrors, maze and grotto garden;<ref name=":0" /> it was rebuilt by Paris Singer, his third son from Isabella, in the style of the [[Palace of Versailles]]. The area became known locally as 'Singerton'.<ref name=":0" /> It has been named by the [[Victorian Society]] as a heritage building at risk of disrepair.<ref>{{cite news |title=Victorian Society reveals top 10 buildings 'crying out' to be saved |publisher=BBC News |date=12 September 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45485245 }}</ref>
=== Consequence on global garment industry ===
Singer's prototype sewing machine became the first to work in a practical way. It could sew 900 stitches per minute, far better than the 40 of an accomplished seamstress on simple work.<ref name="pbs" /> This started the industrialisation of garment and textile manufacturing, as a shirt took an hour to make compared to fifteen hours previously, but these still needed finishing by hand, and the finishers worked alone on [[Piece work|piecework]] terms at home, but mass over-production by factories' machines, led to pressure on wages and to unemployment.
In 1911, most of the mainly female workforce at the Clydebank Singer factory went on strike in support of 12 workers who had objected to increased workload and lower pay conditions imposed (by this time there were 11,500 employees). Although the strike did not succeed, Singer's fired 400 workers including the union leaders. The Singer Strike<ref>{{Cite web|title=Red Clydeside: The Singer strike 1911|url=http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redclyeve01.htm|access-date=2021-01-06|website=gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk}}</ref> was one of the key actions leading to protests known as [[Red Clydeside]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004|date=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|others=Ewan, Elizabeth., Innes, Sue., Reynolds, Sian., Pipes, Rose.|isbn=978-0-7486-3293-0|___location=Edinburgh|pages=295–296|oclc=185096266}}</ref>
In the 1960s, Japanese production efficiency brought aluminium body machines and products at lower pricing which outsold the cast iron Singer machines. The symbolic tower was knocked down as the Singer Clydebank factory was modernised, but it closed in 1980 and was demolished in the late 1990s.<ref name=":1" />
==Personal life==
In 1830, at nineteen, Isaac Singer married fifteen-year-old Catherine Maria Haley (1815–1884).<ref name=":0" /> The couple had two children before he left her to join the Baltimore Strolling Players.<ref name="Gale1993">{{cite book |last1=Gale |first1=Robert L. |title=A cultural encyclopedia of the 1850s in America |date=1993 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-28524-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U93AAAAMAAJ |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref> In 1860, Singer divorced Catherine on the basis of her [[adultery]] with Stephen Kent.<ref name="Klooster2009">{{cite book |last1=Klooster |first1=John W. |title=Icons of Invention: The Makers of the Modern World from Gutenberg to Gates |date=2009 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-0-313-34743-6 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKuG-VIwID8C&pg=PA183 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Their son William spoke up for his mother in the divorce case and was snubbed by Singer, including in his will where William received just $500 of Singer's $13,000,000 fortune.<ref name=":0" /> Their two children were:<ref name="T&C1942">{{cite journal |title=Singer Family Tree |journal=[[Town & Country (magazine)|Town & Country]] |date=1942 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwhUAAAAYAAJ |access-date=2 April 2020 |publisher=Hearst Corporation |language=en}}</ref>
* William Adam Singer (1834–1914), who in 1872 married Sarah Augusta Webb (1851–1909), a twin sister of [[William Seward Webb]] (who married [[Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb|Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt]]).<ref name="T&C1942"/>
* Lillian C. Singer (1837–1912), who married Harry Hodson.<ref name="T&C1942"/>
In 1836, while still married to Catherine, Singer began a 25-year affair with Mary Ann Sponsler (1817–1896).<ref name=":0" /> Together, Mary Ann and Isaac had ten children, two of whom died at birth, including:<ref name="Klooster2009"/>
* Isaac Augustus Singer (1837–1902), who married Sarah Jane Clarke.<ref name="T&C1942"/>
* Vouletti Theresa Singer (1840–1913), who married William Fash Proctor.<ref name="Reynolds1914">{{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Cuyler |title=Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation |date=1914 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn/page/n51 1040] |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* John Albert Singer (1842–1911), who married Jennie C. Belinski.<ref name="Press1877">{{cite book |last1=Press |first1=Brookhaven |title=The Past and Present of Lake County, Illinois: Containing a History of the County – its Cities, Towns, &c., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, General and Local Statistics, Map of Lake County, History of Illinois, Illustrated, History of the Northwest, Illustrated, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, Etc., Etc |date=1877 |publisher=Brookhaven Press |isbn=978-1-58103-880-4 |page=410 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wE40AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA410 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* Fanny Elizabeth Singer (1844–1909), who married William S. Archer.<ref name="1876Fanny">{{cite news |title=Fanny Elizabeth Singer Archer awarded $10,000 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39235253/fanny-elizabeth-singer-archer-awarded/ |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express |date=27 October 1876 |page=2}}</ref>
* Jasper Hamlet Singer (1846–1922), who married Jane Collier Cook.<ref name="JHSObit1922">{{cite news |title=Jasper H. Singer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47861615/obituary-for-jasper-singer-aged-7/ |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[New York Herald]] |date=9 December 1922 |page=13}}</ref>
* Mary Olivia Singer (1848–1900), who married Sturges Selleck Whitlock, a Connecticut state senator.<ref name="Taylor1901">{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=William Harrison |title=Taylor's Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut |date=1901 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7NFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA43 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* Julia Ann Singer (1855–1923), who married Martin J. Herz.
* Caroline Virginia Singer (1857–1896), who married Augustus C. Foster.<ref name="T&C1942"/>
Financial success allowed Singer to buy a mansion on [[Fifth Avenue]], into which he moved his second family.<ref name="Klooster2009"/> He and Mary Ann had abandoned their joint acting company, the Merritt Players, as his inventions were more successful.<ref name=":0" /> He continued to live with Mary Ann, until she spotted him driving down Fifth Avenue seated beside Mary McGonigal, an employee, about whom Mary Ann already had suspicions.<ref name="Klooster2009"/> Reportedly, Singer also had an affair with McGonigal's sister, Kate McGonigal.<ref name=":0" /> Together, Mary McGonigal and Isaac were the parents of seven children (who used the surname Matthews), two of whom died at birth, including:
* Ruth Mary Matthews (b. 1852)
* Clara Matthews (1854–1933), who married Col. Hugh Stafford in 1880.<ref name="1880weddingdress">{{cite web |title=Wedding dress {{!}} Worth, Charles Frederick {{!}} V&A Search the Collections |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O166232/wedding-dress-worth-charles-frederick/ |website=collections.vam.ac.uk |publisher=[[Victoria and Albert Museum]] |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en |date=2 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="Unveiled: Wedding Dress of the Week">{{cite web |title=Unveiled: Wedding Dress of the Week {{!}} Te Papa's Blog |url=https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2012/02/02/unveiled-wedding-dress-of-the-week-7/|access-date=13 February 2021 |language=en |date=13 February 2021}}</ref>
* Margaret Matthews (1858–1939), who married Granville Henry Jackson Alexander, Esq., the [[High Sheriff of Armagh]].<ref name="Fox-Davies1910">{{cite book |last1=Fox-Davies |first1=Arthur Charles |title=Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour |date=1910 |publisher=T.C. & E.C. Jack |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2VHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA19 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* Charles Alexander Matthews (1859–1883), who married Minnie Mathews.<ref name="1883Suicide">{{cite news |title=Suicide of a Rich Young Man.; a New-Yorker Shoots Himself in a Philadelphia Hotel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/11/04/archives/suicide-of-a-rich-young-man-a-newyorker-shoots-himself-in-a.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=4 November 1883}}</ref><ref name="1883CMSuicide">{{cite news |title=Charles Matthews's Suicide. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/11/05/archives/charles-matthewss-suicide.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 November 1883}}</ref>
* Florence Adelaide Matthews ({{Circa|1859}}–1932), who married Harry Ruthven Pratt.<ref name="encyclopediaofalabama">{{cite web |title=William H. Pratt |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-4117 |website=www.encyclopediaofalabama.org |publisher=Encyclopedia of Alabama |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
And Mary Ann, still calling herself Mrs. I. M. Singer, had her husband arrested for [[bigamy]]. Singer was let out on bond and, disgraced, fled to London in 1862, taking Mary McGonigal with him. In the aftermath, another of Isaac's families was discovered: he had a "wife", Mary Eastwood Walters, a machine demonstrator, and had had a daughter in [[Lower Manhattan]]:<ref name=":0" />
* Alice Eastwood (née Walters) Merritt (1852–1890), who adopted the surname Merritt and married twice, including to W. A. P. LaGrove at age eighteen in a marriage arranged by Singer.
By 1860, Isaac had fathered and acknowledged twenty children, sixteen of them still then living, by four women.<ref name="Unveiled: Wedding Dress of the Week"/> In 1861, his longstanding mistress Mary Ann took him to court for abusing her and daughter Vouletti.<ref name=":0" /> With Isaac in London, Mary Ann began setting about securing a financial claim to his assets by filing documents detailing his infidelities, and claiming that, though she had never been formally married to Isaac, they were wed under [[common law]] by living together for seven months after Isaac had been divorced from his first wife, Catherine. Eventually, a settlement was made, but no divorce was granted. However, she asserted that she was free to marry, and indeed she married John E. Foster.<ref name="Klooster2009"/>
[[Image:Isabella Eugenie Boyer.jpeg|thumb|200px|Singer's second wife, [[Isabella Eugenie Boyer]]]]
Isaac, meanwhile, had renewed acquaintance with [[Isabella Eugenie Boyer]], a nineteen year old Frenchwoman, whom he had lived with in Paris when he was staying there in 1860.<ref name=":0" /> She left her husband and married Isaac, who was by now fifty, under the name of Isabella Eugenie Sommerville on June 13, 1863, while she was pregnant.<ref name=":0" /> Together, they had six children:<ref name=":0" />
* Sir [[Mortimer Singer|Adam Mortimer Singer]] (1863–1929)<ref>{{cite journal |title=Berkshire |journal=The London Gazette |date=11 March 1921 |page=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wko7AQAAMAAJ |access-date=2 April 2020}}</ref>
* [[Winnaretta Singer|Winnaretta Eugenie Singer]] (1865–1943),<ref name="PdPOibt1943">{{cite news |title=Princess de Polignac: Heiress to the Singer Sewing Machine Fortune Was 78 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/11/27/archives/ces2-d__e-_ouoac-1-heiress-to-the-singer-sewingi-2.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=27 November 1943}}</ref> a patron of 20th-century music who married Prince Louis de Scey-Montbéliard in 1887. They divorced in 1892 and she married [[Prince Edmond de Polignac]].<ref name="PrincedePolignac1913">{{cite news |title=Prince de Polignac Dead; Was Brigadier General in Confederate Army in Civil War. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/11/16/archives/prince-de-polignac-dead-was-brigadier-general-in-confederate-army.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 November 1913}}</ref>
* [[Washington Singer|Washington Merritt Grant Singer]] (1866–1934), who married Blanche Emmeline Hale and Ellen Mary Allen.<ref>{{cite news |title=Washington Singer Freed; Not Guilty of Conspiring with Princess de Polignac to Escape Tax|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/07/25/archives/washington-singer-freed-not-guilty-of-conspiring-with-princess-de.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 July 1917}}</ref><ref name="WMGSObit1934">{{cite news |title=W. M. G.Singer Dies; Race-horse Owner; Son of the Sewing-Machine Manufacturer Succumbs in Sleep at 68. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/02/12/archives/w-m-6-sin6er-dies-ragehorseowner-son-of-the-sewingmachine.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 February 1934}}</ref>
* [[Paris Singer|Paris Eugene Singer]] (1867–1932),<ref name="PSObit1932">{{cite news |last1= |first1=|title=Paris Singer Dead; Son of Inventor; Youngest of 24 Children of the Sewing Machine Company Head Succumbs in London. Active in Florida Boom Was Unsuccessful In Huge Project on Munyon Island. Most of Life Spent In Europe. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/06/25/archives/paris-simermd-son-of-inventor-youngest-of-24-children-of-the-sewing.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 June 1932}}</ref> who married Cecilia Henrietta Augusta "Lillie" Graham (1867–1951). Paris was a close friend of the [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] architect [[Addison Mizner]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=|first1= |title=Take Paris E. Singer; Allege Huge Fraud; Florida Authorities Accuse Heir to Sewing Machine Fortune of $1,500,000 Realty Swindle. He is Bailed After Arrest Sales Director of Palm Beach Tract Is Also Charged With Defrauding Investors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/04/10/archives/take-paris-e-singer-allege-huge-fraud-florida-authorities-accuse-he.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=10 April 1927}}</ref>
* Isabelle-Blanche Singer (1869–1896), who married the French aristocrat [[Jean, duc Decazes|Jean, Duc Decazes et de Glücksbierg]] in 1888.<ref name="DucDecazes1912Obit">{{cite news |last1= |first1=|title=Duc Decazes is Dead; Third Holder of Title Married Miss Isabelle B. Singer, American |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/09/01/archives/duc-decazes-is-dead-third-holder-of-title-married-miss-isabelle-b.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1 September 1912}}</ref>
* Franklin Merritt Morse Singer (1870–1939),<ref name="FMSObit1939"/> who married Emilie Maigret.<ref name="FMSObit1939">{{cite news |title=Franklin M. Singer Succumbs in Paris; His Family Founded the Sewing Machine Company – Was 68 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/08/12/archives/franklin-m-singer-succumbs-in-paris-his-family-founded-the-sewing-m.html |access-date=2 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 August 1939}}</ref>
[[File:The Singer Family Tomb.jpg|left|thumb|The Singer Family Tomb in [[Torquay Cemetery]]]]
Isaac Singer died in 1875, shortly after the wedding of his daughter by Mary Eastwood Walters, Alice, whose dress had cost as much as a London apartment.<ref name=":0" /> His funeral was an elaborate affair with eighty horse-drawn carriages, and around 2,000 mourners, to see him buried locally in [[Torquay Cemetery]], at his request in three layers of coffin (cedar lined with satin, lead, English oak with silver decoration) and a marble tomb.<ref name=":0" />
==Legacy and honors==
* The [[World War II]] [[Liberty Ship]] {{SS|Isaac M. Singer}} was named in his honor.
* [[Singer Island, Florida]] was named for his son [[Paris Singer]]
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==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Brandon, Ruth, ''Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance'', Kodansha International, New York, 1977. {{ISBN?}}
* Glander, Angelika, ''Singer – Der König der Nähmaschinen, Die Biographie'', Norderstedt, 2009 (in German) {{ISBN|978-3-8370-3952-8}}
* Hawthorne, Paul ''Oldway Mansion, historic home of the Singer family'' Torbay Books, Paignton, 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-9551857-6-2}}
==External links==
*{{in lang|de}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20040830080504/http://home.arcor.de/veritasklub/singer_person/seite01.htm Isaac Merritt Singer, Detailed Biography]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Isaac}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1875 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:American male stage actors]]
<!-- [[Category:Jewish inventors]] His father may have been Jewish; not even sure. His mother? -->
[[Category:Male actors from New York (state)]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:American manufacturing businesspeople]]
[[Category:Burials in Devon]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from New York (state)]]
[[Category:People from Pittstown, New York]]
[[Category:Sewing equipment]]
[[Category:Sewing machines]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
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