With the help of the political acquaintances of these venture capitalists, the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, was chartered by the New Jersey legislature on March 5, 1836. They then licensed that component of White's patent and kept Colt from being able to build cartridge firearms for almost 20 years. Demonstrating his gun to people in general stores did not work, so with a loan from a cousin he went to Washington, D.C., and demonstrated it to President Andrew Jackson. Colt and Captain Walker drew up a new improved model from which Whitney produced the first thousand-piece order. While visiting his brother John in Cincinnati, he partnered with sculptor Hiram Powers for his demonstrations with a theme based on The Divine Comedy. Lucretia Ely 6. Samuel Colt (1814-1862) 2nd Generation. Samuel Colt (/kolt/; July 19, 1814 January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of revolvers commercially viable. [42], Colt hired Elisha K. Root as his chief mechanic in arranging the plant's machinery. [29][32], Besides being used in the war with Mexico, Colt's revolvers were employed as a sidearm by both civilians and soldiers. Colt submitted his single prototype to the War Department as a "Holster revolver". Unavailable. By telling each nation that the others were buying Colt's pistols, Colt was able to get large orders from many countries who feared falling behind in the arms race. However, the unit was never sent to the field and Colt was discharged on June 20, 1861. Documents of Elizabeth Hart Colt (born Jarvis) Elizabeth Hart Colt (born Jarvis) in History of the Mormon Church, Americana Magazine, 1909-1915 Samuel Colt appears briefly in Rose, Joel (2007). We encourage you to research and examine these records . Gonzuallas, Vintage 1917 Colt Advertisement, owning pistol as automobile equipment, 1847 Colt Walker, the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun ever made, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7NV-3YB. Two of his three brothers turned out fine, but one killed himself while awaiting execution for murder. He was the founder of Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now known as Colt's Manufacturing Company), and is widely credited with popularizing the revolver. [71], Colt felt that bad press was just as important as good press, provided that his name and his revolvers received mention. [56] He used marketing techniques which were innovative at the time. Research genealogy for Samuel Colt, as well as other members of the Colt family, on Ancestry. His father would not finance any more development, so Samuel needed to find a way to pay for the development of his ideas. Sam Colt, the bankrupt developer of the Colt Paterson revolver, heard that Walker was in the city looking to buy arms. When someone infringed on the patent, Colt sued and the court ordered that Colt receive royalties on each gun that had been sold by the rival company. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. Please try again. All charts include source citations for ancestors in the charts. [5], Samuel Colt was born in 1814 in Hartford, Connecticut. [69], Apart from gifts and bribes, Colt employed an effective marketing program which comprised sales promotion, publicity, product sampling, and public relations. Upon his return to America, he applied for his U.S. patent for a "revolving gun"; he was granted the patent on February 25, 1836 (later numbered 9430X). Login to find your connection. Later, after hearing soldiers talk about the success of the double barreled rifle and the impossibility of a gun that could shoot five or six times, Colt "decided he would be an inventor and create the 'impossible' gun". Unavailable. . After the testimony by Houston and Rusk, the next issue became how quickly Colt could supply the military. The company founded by Samuel Colt in Hartford, Connecticut is still operating today, and has produced more than 30 million pistols, revolvers, and rifles. [38] For each one of these cases, Colt's lawyer, Edward N. Dickerson, deftly exploited the patent system and successfully ended the competition. Eli Whitney, Jr., the only son of inventor Eli and his wife Henrietta Edwards Whitney was born on November 20, 1820. Geni requires JavaScript! However, opposition from John Quincy Adams, who was serving as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, and who personally disliked Colt, scuttled the project. In 1975, the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. His weapons were not only used in the American West, but around the world. Colt's first two business ventures producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey, and making underwater mines ended in disappointment. This is shown clearly in a letter that Samuel Colt wrote to his father in which he said, "The first workman would receive two or three of the most important partsand would affix these and pass them on to the next who add a part and pass the growing article on to another who would do the same, and so on until the complete arm is put together". Benjamin Colt, Sr. brother Sarah Ayer (Colt) sister Esther Sterling sister view all Samuel Colt's Timeline Skip Ancestry navigation Main Menu. If so, login to add it. [citation needed], Having saved some money and still wanting to be an inventor as opposed to a "medicine man", Colt made arrangements to begin building guns using proper gunsmiths from Baltimore, Maryland. As the world's major proponent of mass production techniques, Colt delivered a lecture concerning the subject to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in London. The first completed pistol exploded when it was fired, but the rifle performed well. [citation needed], During 1829, at the age of 15, Colt began working in his father's textile plant in Ware, Massachusetts, where he had access to tools, materials, and the factory workers' expertise. A promising order from the state of South Carolina for 50 to 75 pistols was canceled when the company did not produce them quickly enough. [21] Colt soon reworked his design to leave the firing hammer exposed, but problems continued. The soldiers in Florida loved the new weapon, but "the unusual hammerless design, sixty years ahead of its time led to difficulty training men used to exposed-hammer guns and many curious soldiers took the locks apart. Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Christopher Colt, a farmer who had moved his family to Hartford after he became a businessman, and Sarah Colt ne Caldwell. Production of Allen pepperboxes continued until the expiration of Colt's patent during 1857. 4.24 Walt and Roy. [34] Ever the opportunist, when the War with Mexico was ended, Colt sent agents south of the border to procure sales from the Mexican government. Later versions contained his entire signature which was used in many of his advertisements as a centerpiece, using his celebrity as a seeming guarantee of the performance of his weapons. Soon after the failure of the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, he teamed with Samuel Morse to lobby the US government for funds. His preoccupation with patent infringement suits slowed his own company's transition to the cartridge system and prevented other firms from pursuing revolver designs. Of the original 80 charges levelled against eight Colts . [2], At age 11, Colt was indentured to a farmer in Glastonbury, where he did chores and attended school. Colt's first two business ventures were producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey, and making underwater mines; both ended in disappointment. Colt tried alternative materials such as rubber cement, but decided to use a thin type of tinfoil. The reception was moderate and the army purchased a few thousand rounds for further testing. With this letter, Colt got a bill approved by Congress endorsing a demonstration for the military, but failed to obtain an appropriation for military purchase of the weapon. His goal was the assembly line". We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. After the Peacemaker was produced in 1873, Samuel Colt designed a different model of the revolver for use in World War I and World War II. Rusk testified: "Colt's Repeating Arms are the most efficient weapons in the world and the only weapon which has enabled the frontiersman to defeat the mounted Indian in his own peculiar mode of warfare". The map below shows the places where the ancestors of the famous person lived. His oldest sister, Margaret, died of tuberculosis at age 19, and the other, Sarah Ann, later committed suicide. [58] He placed numerous advertisements in the same newspapers; The Knickerbocker published as many as eight in the same edition. From his experience in haggling with government officials, he knew what numbers he would have to generate to make enough profit to invest money in improving his machinery, thereby limiting imitators' ability to produce a comparable weapon at a lesser price. [5], During the American Civil War, Colt's pistols were the weapons of choice from 1861-1865. During 1830, a July 4 accident caused a fire that ended his schooling, and his father sent him away to learn the seaman's trade. He designed a variety of firearms for exclusive military use. [41], Colt purchased a large tract of land beside the Connecticut River, where he built his first factory during 1848, a larger factory named the Colt Armory during 1855, a manor that he called Armsmear during 1856, and employee tenement housing. Outlaws and robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker used Colt's guns as well. The family tree for Samuel Colt is still in progress. He began promoting the telegraph companies so he could create a greater market for his cable, for which he was to be paid $50 per mile. Ironically, at the time of Samuel Colt's death from gout, Colt had never once fired one of his guns at another human being. His goal was an assembly line. He designed this special revolver at the start of the Mexican-American War, which spanned from 1846-1848; with Army Captain Samuel Walker. [67][68], It is estimated that during its first 25 years of manufacturing, Colt's company produced more than 400,000 revolvers. [3] His company, Colt Manufacturing Company; formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company was founded in 1855. [9], The Colt revolver revolutionized the firearms industry. The large order allowed Colt to re-establish his firearm business. Le Dowling arbre gnalogique avec les parents d'undemi-million, contient des milliers de photos et plus d'un millierGeneaStars. Skip Ancestry navigation Main Menu. He discovered that "regardless of which way the wheel was spun, each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch that could be set to hold it the revolver was conceived!" Over the years he developed specialized machinery for stock turning or cutting the rifling in gun barrels. [10] Despite the reluctance of English officials to issue a patent to Colt, no fault could be found with the gun and he was issued his first patent (number 6909). Son of Christopher Colt, Sr. and Sarah Colt Husband of Elizabeth Jarvis Colt ("The First Lady of Hartford") and Caroline Colt Colt managed his plant with a military-like discipline: he would dismiss workers for tardiness, sub-par work or even suggesting improvements to his designs. Skip . The family moved often, possibly to keep their disturbing family activities hidden from society. On a visit to Constantinople he gave a custom-engraved and gold inlaid revolver to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdlmecid I, informing him that the Russians were buying his pistols, thus securing a Turkish order for 5,000 pistols; he neglected to tell the Sultan he had used the same tactic with the Russians to elicit an order. Root's machinery changed that for Colt, since the machines completed as much as 80% of the work and less than 20% of the parts required hand fitting and filing. [33] Colt used this general design for the Colt 1851 Navy Revolver which was larger than the Baby Dragoon, but not quite as large as the full-sized version. [citation needed], One of his slogans, God created men, Col. Colt made them equal, (claiming that any person could, regardless of physical strength, defend themselves with a Colt gun) became a popular adage in American culture. [6], Butch Cassidy's famous Colt Army revolver, The notorious leader of "The Wild Bunch" ,Butch Cassidy's "Amnesty Colt", a Army revolver, was expected to fetch upwards of $250,000 at auction. Using the ideas and technical knowledge he had acquired earlier from the encyclopedia, Samuel built a homemade galvanic cell and used it to explode a gunpowder charge in the waters of Ware Lake. In an effort to end the flooding from the river he planted German osiers, a type of willow tree, in a 2-mile-long dike. This resulted in breakage of parts, stripped screw heads, and jammed actions". However, if the paper got wet it would ruin the powder. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. With this rank, he toured Europe again to promote his revolvers. Christopher Colt was remarried two years later to Olivia Sargeant. Skip Ancestry navigation Main Menu. Colt wanted to serve his country, so he returned home. Vanderbilt, the Samuel Colt family and others. In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Colt's widow, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, and her brother, Richard Jarvis contested this. His mother's father had been an officer in the Continental Army and one of Samuel's earliest possessions was his maternal grandfather's flintlock pistol. Just one grandparent can lead you to many His professional responsibilities were turned over to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis. Colt hired Eli Whitney Blake, who was established in the arms business, to make his guns. 8. Samuel P. Colt, who built the show case farm was a grandson of the famous DeWolf family of Bristol. Famouskin.com also includes ancestoral charts showing the family relationships of Samuel Colt to many famous kin. Samuel Pomeroy Colt : Family tree by Tim DOWLING (tdowling) - Geneanet Samuel Pomeroy Colt Col. Born 10 January 1852 - Paterson, Passaic Co., NJ Deceased 13 August 1921 - Bristol, RI,aged 69 years old Buried - Juniper Hill Cem., Bristol, Bristol Co., RI 1 file available Parents Christopher Colt 1812-1855 Theodora Goujaud DeWolf 1820-1901 [31] The first revolving-breech pistols made at the factory were named "Whitneyville-Hartford-Dragoons" and became so popular that the word "Colt" was often used as a generic term for the revolvers. Selden twice prohibited Colt from using company money for liquor and fancy dinners; Colt thought getting potential customers inebriated would generate more sales. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. Samuel Colt (July 19, 1814 January 10, 1862) was an American inventor and industrialist. [36] During 1854 Colt struggled for his patent extension with the U.S. Congress, which initiated a special committee to investigate charges that Colt had bribed government officials in securing this extension. [31] He established a ten-hour work day for employees, installed washing stations in the factory, mandated a one-hour lunch period, and built the Charter Oak Hall, where employees could enjoy games, newspapers, and discussion rooms. Added by Janet Milburn ______________________________________. in Hartford, Connecticut, USA , United States, Died on January 10, 1862 Engraving of Samuel Colt's Manufacturing Company, 1857, east view, Custom Colt .45 pistol model M1911A1, designed for Texas Ranger Capt. His professional responsibilities were given to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis. [49] The membership rewarded his efforts by awarding him the Silver Telford Medal. Colt's waterproof cable was valuable when Morse ran telegraph lines under lakes and rivers, and bays, and especially for attempts to lay a telegraph line across the entire Atlantic Ocean. Despite the reluctance of English officials to issue the patent, no fault could be found with the gun and he was issued his first patent (Number 6909). [33] Many of the revolvers Colt gave away as "gifts" had inscriptions such as "Compliments of Col. Colt" or "From the Inventor" engraved on the back straps. and is less than pleased to learn that Arthur knew that Castiel was in Syria seeking out the Tree of Life. After the Panic of 1837, the company's underwriters were reluctant to fund the new machinery that Colt needed to make interchangeable parts, so he went on the road to raise money. The site was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2008. [75], In 2006, Samuel Colt was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.[76]. At the same time, Colt's policies forced some competing inventors to greater innovation by denying them major features of his mechanism; as a result they created their own. [42] Colt historian Herbert Houze wrote that Colt championed the concept of modernism before the word was invented, he pioneered the use of celebrity endorsements to promote his products, he introduced the phrase "new and improved" to advertising and demonstrated the commercial value of trade-name recognition as a word for "revolver" in French is le colt. During the American Civil War, his factory in Hartford supplied firearms both to the North and the South. [73], Colt established libraries and educational programs within his armories for his employees which provided training for several generations of toolmakers and other machinists, who had great influence in other manufacturing efforts of the next half century. Enter a grandparent's name. Early years Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Christopher Colt, a farmer who had moved his family to Hartford when he changed professions and became a businessman, and Sarah Colt ne Caldwell, who died before Samuel was seven years old. Samuel Colt is in the 1st generation of the family tree for Samuel Colt (Ahnentafel #1). The action of the hammer would align the cylinder bores with the single barrel. Samuel Colt's parents: Samuel Colt's mother was Ethel Barrymore Samuel Colt's father is Russell Colt Samuel Colt's siblings: Samuel Colt's sister is Ethel Colt Samuel Colt's brother is John Colt Samuel Colt's grandparents: Samuel Colt's grandfather was Maurice Barrymore Samuel Colt's grandmother was Georgina Barrymore Colt's mother died from tuberculosis when Colt was six years old, and his father married Olivia Sargeant two years later. Have you taken a DNA test? We encourage you to research and examine these records to determine . One half of the St. Louis . This left Colt time to improve his earlier revolver design and have a prototype built by a gunsmith in New York for his "New and improved revolver". [3] [60] He had been known to sell weapons to warring parties on both sides of other conflicts in Europe and did the same with respect to the war in America. [29] The Whitneyville-Hartford Dragoons, largely built from leftover Walker parts, are known as the first model in the transition from the Walker to the Dragoon series. [2] [3] They had 5 children: Madge McDougal (born Colt), Anna Colt and 3 other children. Because he no longer owned a firearm factory, or even a model of a firearm, Colt hired Eli Whitney Blake, who was established in the arms business, to make his guns. This Catholic commentary on the New Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. John Caldwell III 7. Upon his return, however, he learned that England had mediated the conflict and that there would be no fighting, so he set up a factory for the manufacture of his firearms in Paterson, New Jersey. This is because of it's ability to fire six successive shots without having to reload. His mother Sarah Caldwell Colt passed away from tuberculosis when Samuel was only six years old. Moreover, his innovative use of art, celebrity endorsements, and corporate gifts to promote his wares made him a pioneer of advertising, product placement, and mass marketing. In August 1835, Colt left for England and France to secure his foreign patent. During 1841 he made samples of these cartridges for the army. [16], Colt's U.S. revolver patent gave him a monopoly of revolver manufacture until 1857. The gun became the standard sidearm for U.S. military officers and proved popular among civilian buyers. [17], Constant problems for Colt were the provisions of the Militia Act of 1808, which stated that any arms purchased by a state militia had to be in current service in the United States military. When tensions with Great Britain prompted Congress to appropriate funds for Colt's project toward the end of 1841, he demonstrated his underwater mines to the U.S. government. The Blackest Bird. He was awarded numerous government contracts after making gifts of his highly embellished and engraved revolvers with exotic grips such as ivory or pearl to government officials. [68] After Colt's death, he left the boy $2 million by 2010 standards. The factory's machines mass-produced parts that were completely interchangeable and could be put together on assembly lines using standardized patterns and gauges by unskilled labor, as opposed to England's principal gun makers who made each part by hand. The California gold rush and western expansion made the firearm business boom so much that Colt had to expand the Hartford factory repeatedly. One of the guns burst upon firing, and the other would not fire at all. [62] In response to these charges, Colt was commissioned as a colonel by the state of Connecticut on May 16, 1861, of the 1st Regiment Colts Revolving Rifles of Connecticut armed with the Colt revolving rifle. Samuel had three sisters, one of whom died in childhood. [18] This act prevented state militias from allocating funds towards the purchase of experimental weapons or foreign weapons. They became friends and they both lobbied the U.S. government for funds. [63] Colt envisioned this unit as being staffed by men more than six feet tall and armed with his weapons. The return of the revolver In 1847, Captain Samuel Walker and the Texas Rangers, who had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War, ordered an additional 1,000 revolvers to use in the Mexican-American War. He began promoting the telegraph companies so he could create a wider market for his cable, for which he was to be paid $50 per mile. At the time of his death, Colt's estate, which he left to his wife and son, was estimated to be valued at around $15,000,000. Colt then threatened to sue Allen & Thurber due to the cylinder design of their double-action pepperbox revolver. He lived in 1870, at address, Pennsylvania. The company then received an order for a thousand more; Colt shared the profits at $10 per pistol for both orders. [25], When tensions with the British prompted Congress to appropriate funds for Colt's project toward the end of 1841, he demonstrated his underwater mines to the US government. Free Samuel Colt genealogy charts and reports. Its articles concerning Robert Fulton and gunpowder motivated Colt throughout his life. Research genealogy for Samuel Colt of Pennsylvania, as well as other members of the Colt family, on Ancestry. Colt fixed his prices at a level below his competition to maximize sales volume. [citation needed], When Colt returned to the United States during 1832, he resumed working for his father, who financed the production of two guns, a rifle and a pistol. We encourage you to research and examine these records to . [72] Barbara M. Tucker, professor of history and director of the Center for Connecticut Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University, wrote that Colt's marketing techniques transformed the firearm from a utilitarian object into a symbol of American identity. Walker wanted to order Colt revolvers for use by the Rangers in the MexicanAmerican War, and traveled to New York City in search of Colt. On this voyage, Colt made a wooden model of a revolver. In correspondence to and about his namesake, Samuel Colt referred to him as his "nephew" in quotes. Selden often chastised him for using corporate funds to buy an expensive wardrobe or give lavish gifts to potential clients. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [6] The Colt Revolver was the most popular handgun used on the Western frontier by gunslingers, Western pioneers, peace officers, outlaws, cowboys, and the military. A revolver which could fire six times without reloading helped soldiers and settlers fend off larger forces which were not armed in the same way. Samuel Colt was an American industrialist and inventor. [67], Colt historian William Edwards wrote that Samuel Colt had married Caroline Henshaw (who later married his brother, John) in Scotland during 1838, and that the son she bore later was Samuel Colt's and not his brother John's. When Martin Van Buren assumed the Presidency in 1837, the ensuing economic crash almost ruined Colt's company. [14], Colt never claimed to have invented revolvers; his design was a more practical adaption of Collier's earlier revolving flintlock incorporating a locking bolt to keep the cylinder aligned with the barrel. Gunsmithing In 1835, Samuel Colt traveled to England, following in the footsteps of Elisha Collier, a Bostonian who had patented a revolving flintlock. Any arms purchased under the Militia Act had to be those in the current service to the United States". [7] Colt thought of himself as a man of science and believed if he could enlighten people about a new idea like nitrous oxide, he could in turn make people more receptive to his new idea concerning a revolver. [1], The Peacemaker became the most popular gun in the West when it was introduced in 1873. During 1856 he closed the London plant and had the machinery, tooling, and unfinished guns shipped to Hartford.