Benjamin Haywood
Rev. Benjamin Haywood (1804-1878)
1804 Born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, on 9 November, the son of Thomas and Jane Haywood. He served an apprenticeship as a blacksmith, starting when he was twelve.
In 1829, aged 24, he emigrated to the USA.
In 1833 he established an engineering business in Philadelphia, installing a steam engine from George W. Snyder. In 1835 they formed a partnership as Haywood and Snyder in Pottsville, making steam engines, mining and other machinery.
1845 the firm erected an extensive machine shop and foundry at Danville, Pennsylvania. There, and in Pottsville, they constructed the machinery for firms including the Montour Iron Co, Phoenix Iron Co, for Peter Cooper, at Trenton, New Jersey, and for Bevan, Humphries & Co, of Allentown, Pennsylvania. They made the first set of rolls for the manufacture of T-rails in the USA. In 1845 they constructed a machine for sawing hot iron.
In 1850 he moved to California, and embarked on a number of unsuccessful ventures, before returning to prosperity there, and eventually returning to Pottsville. He bought an interest in the Palo Alto Rolling Mill, and ran it initially under the firm of Haywood, Lee & Co, then as Benjamin Haywood & Co, and then as Benjamin Haywood.
In 1862, he superintended the erection of the Allentown Rolling Mill, and was its president for some years.
In 1865 he built the Lochiel Iron Works at Harrisburg.
He died on 9 July 1878 in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
'He was a man of almost universal powers and attainments; possessed of a large brain, a firm, determined will, unusual activity and energy, an extensive knowledge of men and things. He seemed to perform his work of all kinds by a species of intuition and was certainly one of the most extraordinary men in the State of Pennsylvania.'
The above information is condensed from a short biography in the 1881 'History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania', as transcribed in the 'Find a Grave' website[1]