Ichabod Washburn was a church deacon and industrialist from Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States.
Background
Ichabod Washburn was born at Kingston, Massachussets On his father's side he was descended from John Washburn, who settled in Duxbury, Massachussets, in 1632; on his mother's, from Gov. William Bradford. The elder Ichabod, a sea captain, died when his namesake was an infant, leaving the family in straitened circumstances, and at the age of nine young Washburn was "put out to live" with a chaise and harness maker in Duxbury. He remained with him for five years, learning the trade of harness making, and then returned to his home, where for two years he worked in the cotton mills.
Career
He went to Leicester, Massachussets, and served a four-year apprenticeship in blacksmithing. Going into business for himself at Millbury, Massachussets, he began making plows, but soon relinquished this enterprise in order to acquire experience in the more difficult branches of his craft. For a few months he worked in the armory at Millbury, and then found employment with a machinery manufacturer in Worcester, Massachussets, gaining a knowledge of forging and of finishing all kinds of machinery. In 1821 he entered into a partnership with W. H. Howard to manufacture lead pipe and machinery used in the production of woolen goods, and the following year he purchased Howard's interest. The demand for the woolen machinery was so great, however, that early in 1823 Washburn gave up making lead pipe and with Benjamin Goddard of Worcester formed the partnership of Washburn & Goddard, manufacturers of machinery for carding and spinning wool. The partners were immediately successful and continued their profitable business for eleven years, eight in Worcester and three in a larger water-power factory in Northville, a suburb. At the end of this period the business had so far outgrown the water-power facilities at Northville that a new site seemed desirable to Washburn; but Goddard preferred to remain where they were, and in 1834 the partnership was amicably dissolved. Some two years earlier the partners had begun the manufacture of iron wire, of which up to that time little had been made in the United States. The machinery available was crude, capable of drawing but fifty pounds of wire a day, and as a first improvement Washburn devised the wire drawblock. With it the partners increased their production tenfold and were able to build up a substantial branch business of making wire cards. After the partners separated, Washburn continued the manufacture of wire in a new factory in Worcester, directing his whole attention to it until his death and becoming the leader of the industry in the United States. At the suggestion of Jonas Chickering of Boston, he began in 1850 to make steel piano wire and was so successful that thereafter imported wire was discarded. He introduced the galvanized iron telegraph wire so extensively used after 1850, and developed the first continuous method of tempering and hardening wire in 1856. He thus acquired practically the whole of the hoop-skirt wire business, which, at its maximum, amounted to an output of 1, 500 tons annually. In operating the many related activities of the business, such as rolling mills, cotton mills to make the cotton for covering crinoline wire, iron and cast-steel furnaces, Washburn at first had the help of his twin brother Charles, but after 1850 his son-in-law Philip L. Moen was his partner, the main firm being known as I. Washburn & Moen. He died in Worcester.
Achievements
Ichabod Washburn has been listed as a noteworthy manufacturer, philanthropist by Marquis Who's Who.
Personality
Washburn was a devoutly religious man and was deeply interested in the educational facilities of Worcester. Practically the whole of his fortune was bequeathed to religious institutions, to Lincoln (now Washburn) College, Kan. , and to the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (now the Worcester Polytechnic Institute), of which he was an active trustee.
Connections
He was twice married: first, to Ann Brown of Worcester on October 6, 1823; second, in 1859, to Elizabeth Bancroft Cheever of Hallowell, Me. , who survived him.
