Origins & Early Life

Elias Howe Jr. (; July 9, 1819 – October 3, 1867) was an American inventor best known for his creation of the modern lockstitch sewing machine. Elias Howe Jr. was born on July 9, 1819, to Dr.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Elias Howe Sr (1792–1867) and Polly (Bemis) Howe (1791–1871) in Spencer, Massachusetts. Howe spent his childhood and early adult years in Massachusetts, where he apprenticed in a textile factory in Lowell beginning in 1835. After mill closings due to the Panic of 1837, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to work as a mechanic with carding machinery, apprenticing along with his cousin Nathaniel P. Banks. In the beginning of 1838, he apprenticed in the shop of Ari Davis, a master mechanic in Cambridge who specialized in the manufacture and repair of chronometers and other precision instruments.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

It was in the employ of Davis that Howe seized upon the idea of the sewing machine. He married Elizabeth Jennings Ames, daughter of Simon Ames and Jane B. Ames, on March 3, 1841, in Cambridge. They had three children: Jane Robinson Howe (1842–1912), Simon Ames Howe (1844–1883), and Julia Maria Howe (1846–1869). He then married Rose Halladay.

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