The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1913-09-02

Elias Howe was born in Spencer,
Massachusetts, on July 9, 1919, one OF
family of eight children. His faith
er was farmer and miller, and Elias
early years were spent u the mill. At
the same time he managed to pick up
smattering education.
He went to Lowell, Massachusetts.
In 1885, to work In cotton mill. Two
years later he obtained a place in a
Cambridge machine shop in which his
cousin, Nathaniel P. Banks, afterward
governor of Massachusetts, was also
employed
Howe married at the age of twenty
one and moved to Boston. 1t was there
that the first germs of his great idea
became implanted in his BRAIN To in
crease the family income his wife did
sewing at night. AS Howe watched
her slowly and laboriously stitching a
seam, his inventive mind sought and
sought for some way to decrease her
toll. He had a natural bent for me-
chan1cs, and 1t was not long before he
had constructed the first crude ma
chine
This was in October, 1874. But al
| though he now had his idea, he lacked
money to prove it's value. However, a
man named Fisher in Cambridge liked
his invention, and agreed to board
Howe and his family and to advance
$500 In return for half interest in
the patent. By the middle of the next
May Howe had constructed a ma
chine that did sewing which promised
to outlast the cloth.
But the invention was opposed
everywhere in America. Finally, in
1916, Howe's brother, Amasa, went to
England, and managed to sell the Eng
lfshr1ghts In the machine for $1,25O
to William Thomas. This man also
gave Elias Howe place in his factory
at $15 week. But he treated the in
ventor shamefully and Howe threw up
the situation. He sent his family back
to America ahead of him, and then
returned himself. He landed in New
YORK WITH less than a dollar in his
pocket, and was met with the news
that his wife was dying of consump-
ton In Cambridge. He managed to
borrow some money and reached her
side just before she died.
These were Howe's darkest days.
limitations of his machine were in
fringing on his patent, and he had to
begin several suits to establish his
rights He and another man now COM
menced to manufacture sewing ma
chimes in small way 1t was during
this time that the sewing machine
riots" took place, but soon the real
value of the invention was seen, and
all opposition ceased
Brighter times began for the inven-
tor. He won his patent suits, and by
1863 his royalties were estimated at
$4,000 day. At the Paris exposition
of 1867 he was awarded a gold medal
and the ribbon of the Legion of Honor.
His last years were happy ones. He
died on October 3, 1867.
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