(Who were the Remingtons? Philo’s Soul is a Roman a clef t...)
Who were the Remingtons? Philo’s Soul is a Roman a clef taken from historic documents, photographs and writings that creates an accurate picture of how a society, a country, indeed, a faith recovers after a brutal Civil War. As we all now know the Civil War was conceived by idealists wanting to end the horrors of slavery with little or no planning for the devastation effects and how it would change many generations of Americans. 600,000 men died in total during the Civil War which, when was a first thought to have a short duration with few casualties. It lasted over 4 years and 600,000 Americans died from both sides, still the largest number of deaths and casualties of Americans in war. Those good men, sacrificing all for their beliefs, young men with promising and educated futures, were gone at a time when women had little way to provide for themselves and their children absent a man’s position and labor. That was a shocking reality for the formerly idealistic Americans and they had to heal a nation, restore their souls and go on if the American Democratic Republic was to survive. The book is not only a good novel of the lives of those struggling not only with how to repair their own lives and the lives of their village but how to repair a nation. In modern times of civil war raging in the world ,with questions of how to repair and go on unhopeful instill free democratic republics for their citizens, America may serve once against, as the role model for millions in the world seeking freedom. A former clinician and educator, Donna Marie White-Davis has the unique ability to distill the pages and pages of documents and photographs into a balanced emotional journey of a family of Great Americans who with the men and women of their times forged not only industry but the destiny of America. One feels the lives of those historic people who, indeed, our America’s legacy. Their stories have been silenced too long. It is time. The world needs to know America, too, has had tragedy almost beyond human comprehension and has emerged whole, strong, good, and free. Who Are the Remingtons has become an important read for all children of history, regardless of age. Through the lives of the Remingtons you will see America as you have never seen before. Honest, brutal, and accurate account of the naissance of issues America is struggling with today.
https://www.amazon.com/Who-Were-Remingtons-Philos-Soul-ebook/dp/B01BKQQ8WG?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B01BKQQ8WG
Philo Remington was born on October 31, 1816 at Litchfield, Herkimer County, New York, the eldest son of Eliphalet Remington. His mother is said to have been Abigail, née Paddock, of Litchfield. When he was two years old his parents moved to his grandfather's farm on Steele's Creek, near Ilion, New York, and here Philo spent his youth working and playing on the farm and in the shops and foundry.
He received his education in local schools and at Cazenovia Seminary, Cazenovia, New York.
Having a bent for mechanics and having veritably grown up in a gun factory, he naturally entered his father's armory at Ilion. By the time he was twenty-four years old he was in charge of the manufacturing department, in which capacity he was serving in 1861 when his father died.
Assuming charge of the entire establishment, with the admirable assistance of his two brothers he carried on its affairs throughout the period of the Civil War. Early in 1865 he reorganized the manufactory, separating the agricultural implement business from the armory and bringing about the organization of the latter as a corporation under the name of E. Remington & Sons. He served as president of this corporation until his death, and conducted the agricultural machine business in partnership with his brother Eliphalet until 1887.
The reorganization having been effected, Remington proceeded vigorously to make good the great financial loss incurred by the cessation of the war. Since pistol making was much more profitable than that of other small arms, he concentrated on this branch of the industry. In the course of ten years he was marketing eighteen different sizes and patterns of holster and other pistols, from the very effective single shot 50-calibre arm to the "vest pocket companion" weighing three and one-half ounces.
He also instituted intensive experimental work looking toward the perfection of a breech-loading military arm, and in due time the Remington breechloader, simple in design, its working parts few, and its strength extraordinary, was officially adopted not only by the American government but by many European governments as well. During the early part of this reconstruction period much of the corporation's gun-making machinery was not used, and to correct this unprofitable condition Remington undertook to utilize the idle machinery to manufacture other products than guns. Among these products were sewing machines, first marketed in 1870.
They were well made and in time the sales increased to about 35, 000 machines a year. Again, in 1873, within a month after seeing a working model of the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, brought to him by James Densmore, Remington had contracted to manufacture the machine and soon acquired complete ownership of it.
It was crude and imperfect, but so great was Remington's confidence in the future use of the typewriter that he immediately brought into service the ample resources and the skillful workmen available in his establishment to perfect it. Actual manufacture of the Remington typewriter began in September 1873, but it was not introduced to the public until 1876, at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The delay was due chiefly to the financial conditions prevailing throughout the country at that time, from the effects of which the Remington company never recovered.
For six years Remington tried both to make and to market the typewriter, but in 1882 he was obliged to dispose of the merchandising end of the business, and finally, in 1886, to sell the entire typewriter plant. Similarly, in 1882, in an effort to provide further relief for his corporation and thereby obtain quicker returns on the remaining business, he brought into being the Remington Sewing Machine Company, to which firm he sold the sewing machine branch of his concern. Even this move was not sufficient, however, and in 1887 the agricultural business went on the auction block. Two years later Remington died in Silver Springs, Florida, where he had gone to regain his health. He was buried in Ilion.
(Who were the Remingtons? Philo’s Soul is a Roman a clef t...)
He was married on December 28, 1841, at Syracuse, New York, to Caroline A. Lathrop, and was survived by his wife and two daughters.
