Captain Edwin John Colby AKA (Lorentz Spitzenfiel Colby)

Capt Edwin John Colby son of John Colby and Dolly Bagley Colby born on July 31 1812 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. Originally given the name Lorentz Spitzenfiel Colby, List of Persons Whose Names Have Been Changed in This Commonwealth Feb. 26, 1814.) He appeared in the census in 1850 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. (SOURCE: 1850 Massachusetts Census. Salisbury, Essex County, page 20. Age 38.) Also See Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Volume 4 and The Genealogist, Volumes 13-14 Died on December 19 1859 at Bremen-Vegesack, Weser, Germany.

Sea Captain: Joined the Marine Society Nov. 27, 1856 Newburyport, MA

From The History of the Marne Society of Newburyport
Capt. Edwin J. Colby was born at Salisbury Point, Mass., July 31, 1812, and was the son of John and Dolly Bagley Colby, being the oldest of nine children. As a boy he evinced a taste for the sea, and at the early age of 17 years he commenced his sea- faring life with Capt. 'William Morrill of Salisbury, in the ship Virginia of Alexandria, in August, 1829, going to different southern ports, Richmand, Jamestown, Norfolk and Hampton Roads. In a few years he sailed with the same Capt. Morrill on the Maryland, and at the age of 21 he was second mate of that ship and went to Liverpool. Not long after he was advanced to the position of first mate of the brig Vesta, Capt. Knapp, and visited Havana and other places in the West Indies, also foreign ports. In 1839 he was made a captain of the Jeannette, and in 1841 he commanded the brig Alice of New York, owned by Thomas and Eben Hale (perhaps others). The names of other vessels that afterwards he was master of were the brig Salisbury of Newburyport, bark Tartar, the ships Arno, Edward and the Atlanta, which was owned by Theodore Chase & Co., of Boston. His voyages were usually long, covering a period of nearly two years, and while in the earlier part of his life he went to the southern ports, the later trips were made to the ports in South America, Valpariso, Callao, Chincha Islands, to Melbourne, Australia, St. Helena, to Cadiz, through the Mediterranean to Palermo, Sicily, and up the Adriatic Sea to Trieste. He visited Havre and Bordeaux, Falmouth and Liverpool, London, Isle of Cowes, Elsinore in Denmark, Amsterdam in Holland, and Cronstadt in Russia, Bremen in Germany, Calcutta, Singapore and Aykab, China and Japan. On the 10th of March, 1858, he sailed on the Atlantic from Boston for Calcutta, Melbourne and Bremen, reaching the latter place about December 1859. Here he was taken sick and went to the home of his friend, Henri Wehmann of Vegesack, in order to have proper care and physician's services, but in spite of the constant attention of his friends and the physician's skill, he grew rapidly worse and on the 19th of December, 1859, he passed away in the 48th year of his age. He was buried in the family lot of the Wehmann's at Negesack with Masonic honors, be being a member of Warren Lodge of Amesbury, of Washington Lodge of Charleston S. C, and was made honorary member of Industry and Perseverance Lodge of England at Calcutta, on Sept. II, 1857, and was presented with a gold badge by that lodge. He joined the Marine Society Nov. 27, 1856, and was a member in good standing at" the time of his death. He was a noble character, and his kind and genial nature made him many friends who respected and esteemed him. He had the confidence and regard of his employers, and was a valued citizen of his native place. His devotion to his family was constant and he was well worthy of their affection. He left a wife who survived him only two years.
Edwin was on the Salisbury militia rolls of 1841-1845, 1852 and 1855. Edwin married Mary Follansbee Wigglesworth , daughter of Samuel Wigglesworth and Joanna Heckett born on April 10 1814 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. (SOURCE: Early Vital Recorcs of Essex County, Massachusetts to 1850 for Salisbury. She appeared in the census in 1850 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. SOURCE: 1850 Massachusetts Census. Salisbury, Essex County, page 20. Age 35 She appeared in the census in 1860 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. She died on February 4 1862 at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts.

                                                           Mary F Wigglesworth Colby

Children were: John Edwin COLBY, MaryElizabeth COLBY, Ada Josephine COLBY, Joanna Alice COLBY. Edwin lost his son John age 4 Friday, September 20, 1844 Boston Traveler (Boston, MA)

Reported for the Inquirer; City Item Friday, March 8, 1844 Philadelphia Inquirer PA

 Edwin's brother Macy-Colby House Paintings  Captain Elbridge Gerry Colby Edwin's OBIT: Tuesday, January 10, 1860 Paper: Boston Traveler (Boston, MA) 

Newburyport Woolen Company

From Towle Manufacturing Company, History of Newburyport & Scholfield Wool-Carding Machines

An industry inaugurated by Newburyport capital was located at the falls in Byfield. This was the Newburyport Woolen Company, established in 1794, the first company incorporated for that business in the state, and by some authorities named as the first woolen manufactory in America. The carding and other machines for its equipment were built by Standring, Guppy, & Armstrong, in Newburyport, being set up in "Lord" Timothy Dexter's stable; and were the first made in this country.

From Currier History of Newburyport Volume 2
January 29, 1794, Benjamin Greenleaf, Philip Aubin, William Bartlet, Richard Bartlet, Offin Boardman, jr., Moses Brown, David Coffin, William Coombs, John Coombs, Mark Fitz, Abel Greenleaf, John Greenleaf, Andrew Frothingham, Michael Hodge, Nicholas Johnson, Nathaniel Knapp, Peter Le Breton, Joseph Moulton, Theophilus Parsons, Ebenezer Wheelwright, Edward Wigglesworth and others were incorporated by the name of "The Proprietors of the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory."'

The company purchased about six acres of land, with a water privilege on the Parker river, in Byfield parish, Newbury, and erected a factory there, which was supplied with suitable machinery made by the Schofield Brothers and by Messrs. Guppy & Armstrong in Newburyport. It is said that the company was the first one incorporated for the manufacture of woolen goods in the United States.' The broadcloths, cassimeres, serges and blankets made there were sold by William Bartlet at his store in Newburyport. The business, however, was not financially successful, and Mr. Bartlet bought out the dissatisfied stockholders in 1803. Next year, he sold the property to John Lees, an Englishman, who converted it into a factory for the manufacture of cotton cloth.

The Above is from "Towle Book" A Newburyport philanthropist, Timothy Dexter, contributed the use of his stable. There, beginning in December 1793, the Scholfields built a 24-inch, single-cylinder, wool-carding machine. They completed it early in 1794, the first Scholfield wool-carding machine in America. The group was so impressed that they organized the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory. Arthur was hired as overseer of the carding and John as overseer of the weaving and also as company agent for the purchase of raw wool. A site was chosen on the Parker River in Byfield Parish, Newbury, where a building 100 feet long, about half as wide, and three stories high was constructed. To the new factory were moved the first carding machine, two double-carding machines, as well as spinning, weaving and fulling machines. The carding machines were built by Messrs. Standring, Armstrong, and Guppy, under the Scholfields' immediate direction. All the machinery with the exception of the looms was run by water-power; the weaving was done by hand. The enterprise was in full operation by 1795.

John and Arthur Scholfield (and John's 11-year-old son, James) worked at the Byfield factory for several years. During a wool-buying trip to Connecticut in 1798, John observed a valuable water-power site at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River, in the town (i.e., township) of Montville, Connecticut. Here, the brothers decided, would be a good place to set up their own mill, and on April 19, 1799, they signed a 14-year lease for the water site, a dwelling house, a shop, and 17 acres of land. As soon as arrangements could be completed, Arthur, John, and the latter's family left for Montville.

The Scholfields quite probably did not take any of the textile machinery from the Byfield factory with them to Connecticut—first because the machines were built while the brothers were under hire and so were the property of the sponsors, and second because their knowledge of how to build the machines would have made it unnecessary to incur the inconvenience and expense of transporting machines the hundred odd miles to Montville. However, John Scholfield's sons reported that they had taken a carding engine with them when they moved to Connecticut in 1799 and had later transferred it to a factory in Stonington. The sons claimed that the frame, cylinders, and lags of the machine were made of mahogany and that it had originally been imported from England. However, it would have been most uncommon for a textile machine, even an English one, to have been constructed of mahogany; and having built successful carding machines, the men at Byfield would have found it unnecessary to attempt the virtually impossible feat of importing an English one. If it ever existed and was taken to Connecticut, therefore, this machine was probably not a carding machine manufactured by the Scholfields. It is more probable that the first Scholfield carding machine remained in the Byfield mill as the property of the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory.