of the Griffith and Wedge Co of Zanesville, Ohio, USA
Born in Staffordshire, January 12th, 1825. Educated at Stone, Staffordshire. At 17 he started an apprenticeship of five years under Joseph Whitworth.
On 3 August 1848, he left Liverpool for the USA, and settled in Zanesville, Ohio. During the next six months, he was employed in setting up machinery for the Ohio Iron Company (formerly the Zanesville Rolling Mills). He then went into partnership with John H. Jones, and for 18 months engaged in business in the Blocksom Foundry, which had been rented by the partners.
He subsequently served eight years as foreman for H. & F. Blandy. The following year was spent in the saw-mill business in Arkansas. He then found employment in "getting, up" machinery, designs, and drawings for portable engines, for Owens, Lane & Dyer, Hamilton, Ohio.
In 1857 he designed, built and bought the first engine in Zanesville, Ohio.
In 1858 he became a member of the firm of Griffith, Ebert & Co., which, after two years became Griffith and Wedge. While in the employ of H & F. Blandy he built not only the first locomotive in Zanesville, but also the first portable engine. He became a stockholder in the Brown Manufacturing Company and also in the Zanesville Woollen Company. He married Nichola J. Weild on 29 July 1846, in Manchester, England.
The above information is condensed from The Biographical Encyclopdia of Ohio, 1876, via the VintageMachinery.org website[1]