predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place birth_date article_title name occupation
j. b. merrow j. m. washburn 27 march 1947 merrow , mansfield , connecticut hartford , connecticut 24 june 1848 joseph m. merrow
 joseph m. merrow president , merrow sewing machine company
joseph m. merrow

joseph millard merrow -lrb- june 24 , 1848 -- march 27 , 1947 -rrb- was president of the merrow machine company .
merrow was born in the community of merrow , town of mansfield in connecticut .
his parents were j. b. merrow and harriet millard merrow .
he was educated at the munson mass academy and hartford public high school .
at the age of 15 he was employed as a pharmacist and a postmaster , appointed by abraham lincoln .
established in 1838 , the family business was the manufacture of knit cotton goods ; it was the first of its kind in the country .
in 1888 the family 's mills were destroyed by fire related to an incident with gunpowder .
j. b. merrow held a patent on gunpowder .
the destruction of the mill allowed the company to further develop a small shop that had previously supported the knitting mill , and the merrow mills thus became primarily a manufacturer of crochet sewing machines .
joseph merrow was the driving force behind merrow developing new technology , growing the new business and transforming it from a regional supplier of crochet sewing machines , to the market leader manufacturing hundreds of models of industrial overlock sewing machines .
under his leadership the company achieved a place of prominence in the industrial machine field with sales world-wide , hundreds of patents and the industries first industrial overlock sewing machine .
merrow was also active in politics .
in 1880 he was elected to the house of representatives of the general assembly .
he was founder and president of the hartford county manufacturers association .
in addition he founded the industrial memorials inc , a business group that devoted its time to commemorating pioneer manufacturers by funding and locating plaques and statues .
he was president from 1939 until 1946 .
merrow traveled the world , taking several dozen trips to europe and asia , while studying the industrial conditions of the countries he visited .
he was a writer and a poet .
the hartford courant writing his obituary quotes him as having defined war as the ` history of the human race in a single word , greed the cause of war and brotherly love the cure for greed and the end of war ' .
merrow never married , although his great nephews owen and charlie merrow maintain his legacy as the current managers of the merrow sewing machine company .
