Henry Disston: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|English American industrialist}}

'''Henry Disston''' ([[May 24]] [[1819]] - [[March 16]] [[1878]]) was an English-American [[industrialist]] who founded the [[Disston Saw Works|Disston Saw Mill]] and developed the surrounding neighborhood of [[Tacony, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Tacony]] in [[Philadelphia]].

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Henry Disston

| image = Henry Disston.png

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1819|05|24}}

| birth_place = [[Tewkesbury]], England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1878|03|16|1819|05|24}}

| death_place = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, United States

| resting_place = [[Laurel Hill Cemetery]]

| occupation = Industrialist

| employer =

| spouse = {{Plainlist|

* Amanda Bickley

* {{Marriage|Mary Steelman|1843}}

}}

| children =

| relatives =

| awards =

| education =

| party =

| signature = Signature of Henry Disston.png

}}

'''Henry Disston''' ([[May 24]], [[1819]] -– [[March 16]], [[1878]]) was an [[England|English-]] [[United States|American]] [[industrialist]] who founded the [[Disston Saw Works|DisstonKeystone Saw MillWorks]] in 1840 and developed the surrounding neighborhood of [[Tacony, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Tacony]] inneighborhood of [[Philadelphia]] to build housing for his workers. His company became the Disston Saw Works and was the top manufacturer of hand saws in the United States during the late 19th-century and early 20th century.

==Early life and rise to prominence==

Disston was born May 24, 1819, in [[Tewkesbury]], [[England]].<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9kbAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA146 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=VI |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=146 |year=1896 |access-date=2020-11-27 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The family moved to Derby, when he was four for the father's work manufacturing machines that produced lace. His father invented a machine to make a special fine lace and was invited to introduce the machine to a mill in Albany, New York.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|p=1}} He arrived in America, as a boy of 14 with his father and 16-year-old sister, Marianna. Three days after arriving in Philadelphia they were orphaned by the sudden death of their father. Henry Disston was taken in as a [[saw]]-maker's [[apprentice]] at Lindley, Johnson & Whitcraft. He left that company in 1840 and started his own saw-making business.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/> He married Amanda Bickley but she died after giving birth to twins who only survived a few hours. He later remarried to Mary Steelman in 1843.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Disston |first1=Jacob S. Jr. |title=Henry Disston (1819–1878) Pioneer Industrialist Inventor and Good Citizen |url=http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/disstonbio.html |website=disstonianinstitute.com |access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref>

Disston was born in [[Tewkesbury]], [[England]] in 1819. As a child, he planned to moved to [[Albany, New York|Albany]], [[New York]] with his family in 1833. Just days after their ship arrived in Philadelphia, Disston's father died, and Disston took a job there as a [[saw]]-maker's [[apprentice]]. By 1840, he had started his own saw-making business. Around this time he married, firstly to Amanda Bickley, then after she died suddenly, to Mary Steelman.

By 1850, Disston's saws were renowned in the United States, even as compared against the English manufactures that were usually thoughtconsidered superior. Disston encouraged emigration from England to staff his factory with skilled workers. By 1859, Disston had 150 people working for him.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|p=3}} During the [[American Civil War]], a [[Tariff_in_American_historyTariff in American history#Civil_War_Protective_Policy.2C_1861-1913protectiveCivil War protective policy, 1861–1913|protective tariff]] on foreign manufactured goods helped expand Disston's enterprise still more, and despite a fire that ruined the factory, Disston prospered through the 1860s.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/> During the war, Disston had success when he switched some production from saws to war supplies such as Sabers, bayonets and guns.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|p=4}} Disston also became a supplier of steel to the [[William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company]] which had switched their ship designs from wood to iron vessels and had become a main supplier of ships to the Union war effort.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|p=4}}

==Move to Tacony==

By 1871, Disston's saw mill had outgrown its factory and he moved the business to the villageoutlying neighborhood of [[Tacony, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Tacony]], in what is now [[Northeast Philadelphia]]. At the time, Tacony was a small outlying area of Philadelphia, but it was located near the railroad and the [[Delaware River]], and provided Disston with room for his saw mill to grow.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/> Disston constructed homes for his workers, and designed them in an effort to improve their surroundings from their former dwellings in Philadelphia. The Disston family owned more than 600 homes that were rented to workers and many others were built and sold to workers.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|pp=9-10}} This area of Tacony, known as the Disston Estate, was designed to bear Disston's imprint in the fashion of true [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[utopianism]].

In 1879, U.S. President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] visited Philadelphia and toured the Disston Saw Works factory.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|p=10}}

By the late 1870s, Disston's business and social enterprizes were succeeding, but his own health was failing. After falling ill in 1877, he suffered a stroke and died in 1878.

==Later life and death==

[[File:Disston tomb LH Philly.JPG|thumb|Disston mausoleum in [[Laurel Hill Cemetery]]]]

Disston was an early settler of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He built a summer cottage for his wife and multiple business such as a bakery, a coal and brick yard, and a saw mill.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=John F. |title=The Daily Union History of Atlantic City and County, New Jersey |date=1900 |publisher=The Daily Union Printing Company |___location=Atlantic City, NJ |page=467 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pZE-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA467 |access-date=13 April 2021}}</ref>

By the late 1870s, Disston's business and social enterprises were succeeding, but his own health was failing. Despite his failing health, Disston generously supported the founding of a [[homeless shelter]], [[Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Avery|first1=Ron|title=A Mission With Praying Power For 117 Years, It Has Sheltered & Fed Hungry Men|url=http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-22/news/25673201_1_skid-row-campbell-vine-street|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228163700/http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-22/news/25673201_1_skid-row-campbell-vine-street|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 28, 2015|access-date=15 June 2015|newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer|publisher=Philadelphia Media Network|date=22 May 1995}}</ref> After falling ill in 1877, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died at his home in Philadelphia on March 16, 1878.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64145872/obituary/ |title=Obituary |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |page=3 |date=1878-03-17 |access-date=2020-11-27 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> His oldest son, [[Hamilton Disston]], succeeded him as president of the company.{{sfn|Silcox|1994|p=14}}

[[Category:1819 births|Disston, Henry]]

[[Category:1878 deaths|Disston, Henry]]

Disston is buried at [[Laurel Hill Cemetery]] in the largest mausoleum in the cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Crimmens |first1=Peter |title=Lighting up the dead: Historic Laurel Hill takes on a new glow |url=https://whyy.org/articles/lighting-up-the-dead-historic-laurel-hill-takes-on-a-new-glow/ |website=www.whyy.org |publisher=WHYY |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref>

[[Category:Natives of Gloucestershire|Disston, Henry]]

[[Category:People from Philadelphia|Disston, Henry]]

==Citations==

{{Reflist}}

==Sources==

* {{cite book

| last = Silcox

| first = Harry C.

| year = 1994

| title = A Place to Live and Work: The Henry Disston Saw Works and the Tacony Community of Philadelphia

| publisher = The Pennsylvania State University Press

| ___location = University Park, Pennsylvania

| isbn = 0-271-01079-7

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QaN6wCAxyj8C&pg=frontcover

}}

==External links==

*[http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/ Disstonian Institute] on-line reference for collectors of handsaws

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Disston, Henry}}

[[Category:1819 births|Disston, Henry]]

[[Category:1878 deaths|Disston, Henry]]

[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]

[[Category:19th-century American philanthropists]]

[[Category:American company founders]]

[[Category:American manufacturing businesspeople]]

[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]

[[Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)]]

[[Category:PeopleBusinesspeople from Philadelphia|Disston, Henry]]

[[Category:People from Tewkesbury]]