The English-born American manufacturer Samuel Slater built the first successful cotton mill in the United States, in 1790. He was known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" and the "Father of the American Factory System. "
Background
Samuel Slater was born on June 9, 1768, in Belper, England, the fifth son of a farming family of eight children. At age ten, he began work at the cotton mill opened that year by Jedediah Strutt using the water frame pioneered by Richard Arkwright at nearby Cromford Mill. In 1782, his father died and his family indentured Samuel as an apprentice to Strutt. Slater was well trained by Strutt and, by age 21, he had gained a thorough knowledge of the organisation and practice of cotton spinning.
Education
Slater received a basic education at a school run by a Mr. Jackson in Belper.
Career
The Slater farm was located near the river Derwent; the first spinning mill driven by water power was built in Cromford on the Derwent in 1771 by Jedediah Strutt and Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the water-frame spinner. In 1776 they dissolved their partnership, and Strutt took over his own mill in Belper, where Slater began his apprenticeship at the age of 14.
Although the terms of the indenture were harsh and Slater had to work hard, Strutt treated him kindly. In 1789 Slater made his way to London, where he negotiated his passage to America.
Within a few days of his arrival in New York City, Slater found a position with the New York Manufacturing Company. He was disappointed, however, because the mill was poorly equipped and lacked access to enough water to provide the necessary power for operating spinning machines. He learned that the firm of Almy and Brown operated a machine spinning mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and wrote to Moses Brown, who had provided most of the capital for building the mill, requesting a job. Slater was hired immediately. S later soon became a partner in the firm. Brown again supplied the capital. The new mill went into operation in December 1790. The mill did not run smoothly at first. There were problems in securing good-quality raw cotton, and often the equipment broke down. More importantly, the shop was unable to produce cotton yarn in sufficient quantities to meet the demand. In 1793 the firm of Almy, Brown, and Slater decided to expand. Picking a site on the Blackstone River, they constructed a new dam to provide the power and built a large mill. They installed three carders and two spinning frames containing 72 spindles. The mill, called the Old Slater Mill, went into operation in July 1793. Dissension within the partnership over management of the mill convinced Slater to build his own mill. Still maintaining his interests in Almy, Brown, and Slater, he organized a new firm, Samuel Slater and Company, in 1798. His mill, completed in 1801, was the first in Massachusetts to use the Arkwright system. Slater played an active part in establishing other cotton mills in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. By 1828 he had been involved in 13 different partnerships concerned with processing cotton.
Achievements
Connections
In 1791, Samuel Slater married Hannah Wilkinson; she invented two-ply thread, becoming in 1793 the first American woman to be granted a patent. Samuel and Hannah had 10 children together, although four died during infancy. Hannah Slater died in 1812 from complications of childbirth, leaving Samuel Slater with six young children to raise. Along with his brothers, Samuel started the Slater family in America.
Slater married for a second time in 1817, to a widow, Esther Parkinson. As his business was extremely successful by this time, and as Parkinson also owned property prior to their marriage, the couple had a pre-nuptial agreement prepared.