The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-04-03

). lolmes acquired bleach. green an
engaged in the manufacture of linen
Robert Holmes wished Hodgcn L
marry controry to his incllnations, con
sequently he left home and set out 70
The New World. lie finally settled il
Augusta, where he purchased from
1 Thomas and Ann Cumming one acre O
land in the city fronting on Reynolds
Houston and Bay streets, March 20
1904, as shown by the records of Rich
mond County. His will, duly attcstct
and recorded, shows that he also own
cd several pieces Of country property
and some negroes. lie married Eliza.
beth Hill, of Columbia County, Georgia
lie died in 1904, leaving widow and
one daughter, Margaret. McCleary
Holmes, who married DR.. William
Cloud, cf Chester, S. g. From this
marriage there sprang the following
Mrs. j. r.. Aiken, Mrs. Samuel Du-
bose, Mrs. ELIAS Earle, Mrs. r.. B.
Boylcston, Mrs. William Calhoun,
Miss e. r.. Cloud-names that will
be recognized as among the most
prominent in that aristocratlc State
Mr.. John Hill, of Macon, brother of
Mrs. l!odgcn Holmes, was the grand
father Of Mrs. Senator a. O. Bacon.
On May ~, 1916, letters paLent were
issued to lIod8cn Holmes, signed by
George Washington, President; Timo-
thy Pickering, Secretary of State, and
Charles Lee, Attorney General, "for
new and useful Improvement, to-wlt:
CIV machinery called the cotton GIN"
The improvement consisted of "thc
cylinder, from s to If inches in diane
ter, and feet long, with one row of
teeth to inch, which runs on two
gudgcons," etc. 1t was attcstcd by
w. Urquhart and Scaborn Jones, both
wcll-known citizens of Richmond
County, prominent in the Revolution
airy period, and men whose numerous
descendants stand high in the affairs
of the State 10 this day. This patent is
still in existence and is in the possess
sion of Mrs. S. a. Boylcston.
llodgcn Holmes, having received his
carly training in his fathers linen fac
tory, it is but natural that he should
have acquired a taste for textile man
ufacturing, AMI that the knowledge &C
quircd from the manipulation of the
fiber or flax should have suggested the
idea of The saw gin, the machine which
fulfilled the South's greatest require
ment. 1t is equally natural that w nit
nails for livcliho ID, should have hit
upon the device of spikes driven into
the cylinder instead of tecL tn or revolv-
ing saws.
The patent Office at Washington was
destroyed by fire III 1886 and all The
models an drawings lost, including
WhiLney's. But for q certified copy Of
the original specification on lilc at the
United States court house in Savan-
nah, there would be 10 data concern
ing them in existence. The patent
office authorities appropriated $780,
600 toward tho recovery of the origi-
nails, but failed to obtain Whitney's.
But in 1871 there was filed, instead,
an entirely different set of spccilica-
tions, differing completely from the
original and showing the complete
workings Of a saw gin. The draughts<-
man that executed the substituted
copy was evidently ignorant of the
mohns opcrandi Of the gin for he put
the crank Oh the brush shaft instead
of the cylinder shaft.
There were twcntv-scvcn suits
brought by Miller and Whitney in the
| United States court at Savannah for
| infringement Of patent, in most of
which they were unsuccessful. Among
the defendants are found the familiar
names in the early history Of Georgia,
Ignatius Few and William Few, Ar
! thur Fort and John Powell. Holmes
was not a party to any of the litiga-
tion, although certified copy of his
patent was introduced as evidence,
and what the defense mainly relied
upon was the fact that Holmes, not
Whitney, invented the saw gin. Whit
ney wrote from New Haven to JOSIAH
Stcbbins, asking his dispositions to the
effect that fourteen. years before {" he
(Whitncy) repeatedly told him that he
originally contemplated making a
whole row Of teeth from one plate or
piece of sheet iron." Whitney writes
IN the same letter: " have a set of
the most dcpravcd Williams to combat
and might as we'll go to hell in search
of happiness as apply to Georgia
court for JUSTICE"
w. b. Scabrook, president of tho
South Carolina Agricultural Society, in
a work on cotton, published in lSi!
speaks of Holmes saw gin used by Cap
tain James Kincaid on Mill creek, neal
Winnsboro, Fairfield County, Soutl
Carolina, in 1795, and says /" it is re
ported to have been the first saw GIN
used in that State" 1t is related tha
Holmes and Klncaid were fast friends
both being Scotchmcn by birth. On
, one occasion Kincaid chancCd TO visi
Hamburg, opposite Augusta, whore II,
traded, and where he met Holmes
Holmes induced him to take bis Gil
home with him and test its merits ant
, at the same time cautlonining him l.
be careful lest the secret Of the me
| chanism be discovered and utili cd b.
, others. When the gin was set up il
l I[incald's mill and tested it was foun
c to work satisfactorily. Shortly after
l., wards Kincad had business in Chal
l lesion and left the mill key with hi
o wife with the injunction to let no on