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| Col. '''Paul C. Whitin''' , (1767-1831) was a pioneering industrialist who established ] in 1831, which would become the largest maker of specialty textile in the world. | Col. '''Paul C. Whitin''' , (1767-1831) was a pioneering industrialist who established ] in 1831, which would become the largest maker of specialty textile in the world. | ||
| Paul C. Whitin was born in 1767 in the South Northbridge section of ] in ] which |
Paul C. Whitin was born in 1767 in the South Northbridge section of ] in ] (which became ] when Paul was five years of age). He began his industrial career as an apprentice in Colonel Fletcher's forge in South Northbridge. He would marry Fletcher's daughter, Elizabeth (Betsey) Fletcher in 1793 and they would have six children, including five sons, who would be influential in the development of the ] as well as the textile industry in the ] area during the 19th Century.<ref></ref> | ||
| ==Pioneer of Industry== | ==Pioneer of Industry== | ||
Revision as of 17:27, 23 June 2008
Col. Paul C. Whitin , (1767-1831) was a pioneering industrialist who established Whitin Machine Works in 1831, which would become the largest maker of specialty textile in the world.
Paul C. Whitin was born in 1767 in the South Northbridge section of Uxbridge, Massachusetts in Worcester County (which became Northbridge when Paul was five years of age). He began his industrial career as an apprentice in Colonel Fletcher's forge in South Northbridge. He would marry Fletcher's daughter, Elizabeth (Betsey) Fletcher in 1793 and they would have six children, including five sons, who would be influential in the development of the Whitin Machine Works as well as the textile industry in the Northbridge, Massachusetts area during the 19th Century.
Pioneer of Industry
Paul C Whitin and his descendants, built numerous mills along the Mumford River and Blackstone River and dominated civic life in the area for over 150 years. Paul C. Whitin, who was a local blacksmith, and James Fletcher started a "shop" together in south Northbridge, Massachusetts. In 1826 they started a separate company together, on the Mumford River at Northbridge. Eventually the Whitin Machine Works, the Whitin Family and its related industries begun by these two men, dominated the upper Blackstone Valley. Paul's sons, Paul Jr, John Whitin, and James Whitin, joined him in the enterprise. The Whitin Machine Works became the largest manufacturer of textile machinery in the world. The "Shop" as it was called was prominent in the specialty of manufacturing machinery for the cotton mills of the textile industry. The Slater Mills, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Slatersville, Rhode Island, the Mills of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Uxbridge, Grafton, Massachusetts, and Millbury, Massachusetts, all contributed to make the Blackstone River and its tributaries, America's "hardest working River". The Blackstone Valley is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in America as a result of Samuel Slater's first cotton mill at Pawtucket. The Blackstone Valley is the oldest industrialized region in the United States.
The later village of Whitinsville
The village of south Northbridge, quickly came to be known as Whitinsville, named after Colonel Whitin, and his family.
See also
Notes
- Whitin Geneology by Don Gosselin
- Navin, Thomas (1969). The Whitin Machine Works since 1831: A textile machinery company in an industrial village; Harvard studies in business history. Russel and Russel.
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