Background
Edwin Henry Fitler was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William and Elizabeth (Wonderly) Fitler. His father was a prosperous leather merchant and tanner.
Edwin Henry Fitler was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William and Elizabeth (Wonderly) Fitler. His father was a prosperous leather merchant and tanner.
Since his parents were in easy circumstances, young Fitler received an excellent academic education.
Planning to adopt the law as a profession, he entered the office of Charles E. Lex, a prominent lawyer of Philadelphia, but after four years of legal study he decided that his natural tastes were for mechanical pursuits. Accordingly, he abandoned law for a more congenial occupation, and obtaining a position in the cordage house of his brother- in-law, George J. Weaver, began to lay the foundation of his life-work.
Under his management labor-saving machinery was introduced, much of it being of his own invention. These inventions were not patented but were freely offered to the trade and many were adopted by other cordage manufacturers.
By 1870 he had purchased the interests of most of his other partners and the firm name was changed to Edwin Fitler & Company (Philadelphia Cordage Works). At the time of his death, the factory, situated in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia, was one of the largest cordage works in the United States.
He died, after a long illness, at his country estate near Philadelphia.
He was intensely patriotic and at the outbreak of the Civil War threw the whole weight of his influence into the Union cause, and personally outfitted a company from among his employees.
He was intensely patriotic and at the outbreak of the Civil War threw the whole weight of his influence into the Union cause, and personally outfitted a company from among his employees.
He was a member of the board of finance of the Centennial Exposition in 1875-76 and one of the founders of the Philadelphia Art Club.
His wife, whom he married in 1850, was Josephine R. Baker.