SLATER
SLAUGHTER
which he concealed, trusting his memory entirely
as to the construction of the machinery in the
Arkwright and Strutt mills. He left Derbyshire
for London, Sept. 1, 1789, sailing for New York,
Sept. 13, and reaching that port after a passage
of sixty-six days. He engaged with the New
York Manufacturing company, and finding no
encouragement for the introduction of improved
machinery in New York, he planned to go to
Philadelphia, but was induced by Capt. Brown,
of the New York and Providence packet line, to
correspond with Moses Brown, of Providence,
R.I., who was then attempting to operate a
spinning-jenny, built by Daniel Anthony and
others in 1787. This spinning frame, of thirty-
two spindles, had been set up in an old fulling
mill at Pawtucket, where Brown undertook to
operate it by water power but found the machin-
ery too loosely built. This early effort at spin-
ning cotton with a Hargreaves jenny determined
Moses Brown to obtain the services of young
Slater, with the hope of securing the Arkwright
spinner, then successfully operated in English
cotton mills. He took him to Pawtucket and
there showed him the machinery then in partial
operation, which Slater condemned and offered
to replace by new machinery with three cards,
drawing and roving, and two spinning frames,
one for twenty-four, and the other for forty-eight
spindles, after the Arkwright patent, then un-
known in America, and to put it in operation,
making its success a condition of receiving any
remuneration except one dollar per day. He did
the work from memory and almost entirely with
his own hands, and at the end of the year 1790
had it in. successful operation. In 1793, Almy,
Brown & Slater built a new factory, the first
American mill entirely equipped with American
built machinery, which they set in motion July
12, and the original seventy-two spindles taken
from the old fulling mill, gradually increased as
the demand for American spun cotton yarn called
for a supply. His success induced capital to in-
vestment in cotton spinning, and in 1798 Mr.
Slater, with Oziel Wilkinson, Timothy Green,
and William Wilkinson, built a second mill on
the east side of the Pawtucket river, the firm be-
ing Samuel Slater & Co. After this mill had
been operated for some time, five or six of the
hands left and erected for themselves a small
mill, and by 1812 more than one hundred fac-
tories operating 80,000 spindles, had been started
in different parts of the country, each drawing
its knowledge of the business from Samuel Slater's
mill in Pawtucket. He was the first in America
to introduce Sunday-schools among the laborers
in factories, and from Pawtucket they were in-
troduced into Providence in 1815, by William
Jenkins, a clerk with Mr, Slater. At first the
schools were designed for general instruction and
subsequently biblical instruction was added by
religious societies. In 1806 Mr. Slater was joined
by his brother John, also an English cotton spin-
ner, who had determined to make his home in
America, and in 1807 the}' erected at North
Smithfield, R.I., a cotton mill, which, under the
supervision of John Slater. i)roved very profitable,
and the village and mill became known as Slater-
ville. In 1812 he erected mills at " Oxford South
Gore," (afterward East Webster) Mass., increas-
ing their capacity each year, and in 1815-16 he
added to the enterprise the manufacture of woolen
cloth. He introduced the spinning of thread
from cotton for domestic use in sewing in 1793.
In 1811 he took into partnership Mr. Bela Tiffany,
a former clerk, and Slater & Tiffany erected the
first cotton mill built on the French river, which
led to the establishment of woolen and cotton
mills and the incorporation, in 1832, of the town
of Webster and the village of East Webster,
Mass. Mr. Slater took especial interest in the
improvement of roads, and invested largely but
not profitably in turnpike stock. In 1822, his
attention being directed to the great capabilities
of the Amoskeag falls on the Merrimac river, he
purchased the property controlling the water-
power and founded the manufacturing interests
of Manchester, N.H. In the financial revulsion of
1829 he met with heavy pecuniary losses, but by
making heroic sacrifices he passed the ordeal
with unimpaired credit and added to his property
the Providence Steam Mills and the mills at
Wilkinsonville, in Sutton, Mass. He was mar-
ried soon after arriving in America to Hannah,
daughter of Oziel Wilkinson of Pawtucket. She
died in 1812, leaving ten children. His second
wife, who survived him, was Mrs, Esther Parkin-
son of Philadelphia, He died in East Webster,
Mass., April 21, 1835.
SLAUGHTER, Gabriel, governor of Kentucky, was born in Virginia, in 1767, He moved to Kentucky in childhood, became a farmer, and was a representative from Mercer countj' in the Kentucky legislature, 1799-1800. and senator, 1801-08, He was colonel of a Kentucky regiment at the battle of New Orleans, and won a vote of thanks from the legislature for gallant conduct. General Jackson entertained a high opinion of him as a soldier and pa- triot. He was a man of determined firmness, and in that respect resembled Jackson. On one oc- casion, while acting as president of a court-mar- tial the result of which was not in accordance with General Jackson's views, the court was ordered to reverse its proceedings, but Slaughter
