. Soon after the failure of his former company, while he was marketing the underwater electrical detonators that he had invented, Colt met Samuel Morse. Husband of Elizabeth Jarvis Colt ("The First Lady of Hartford") and Caroline Colt We encourage you to research and examine these . Born on July 19, 1814 When tensions with Great Britain prompted Congress to appropriate funds for Colt's project toward the end of 1841, he demonstrated his underwater mines to the U.S. government. Using the ideas and technical knowledge he had acquired earlier from the encyclopedia, Samuel built a homemade galvanic cell and used it to explode a gunpowder charge in the waters of Ware Lake. Colt quickly formed a corporation of New York and New Jersey venture capitalists in April 1836. Colt died in 1862 as one of the wealthiest men in America. Colt's great contribution was the use of interchangeable parts. [59], Before the American Civil War, Colt supplied both the North and the South with firearms. Oftentimes the family trees listed as still in progress have derived from research into famous people who have a kinship to this person. [42], Colt hired Elisha K. Root as his chief mechanic in arranging the plant's machinery. Among the pistols, we saw Colt's revolver; and we compared it with the best English revolver. [5], Samuel Colt was born in 1814 in Hartford, Connecticut. County: Hartford, 1666-1785; Middlesex, 1785-(Current). By August he was exonerated and the story became national news when the magazine Scientific American reported that the fault was not with Colt, but with Washington politicians. [3] In 1845, the Texas Rangers hired Colt to produce 1,000 pistols, of "The Walker" model. The Blackest Bird. They had 3 children: Samuel Caldwell Colt and 2 other children. [12][13], With a loan from his cousin Dudley Selden and letters of recommendation from Ellsworth, Colt formed a corporation of venture capitalists in 1836 to bring his idea to market. Christopher Colt, a brother of the celebrated Colonel Samuel Colt, of revolver fame, died at Hartford, Ct., on Tuesday last. Powers made detailed wax sculptures and paintings based on demons, centaurs, and mummies from Dante's work. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu. Home; Trees; . We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. - changed location to time of event. At the same time, Colt's policies forced some competing inventors to greater innovation by denying them major features of his mechanism; as a result they created their own. Research genealogy for Samuel Colt of New York, as well as other members of the Colt family, on Ancestry. Colt elected as his primary residence, Linden Place, the home built by his grandfather, the flamboyant General George deWolf of the renouned seafaring family of Bristol. This is shown clearly in a letter that Samuel Colt wrote to his father in which he said, "The first workman would receive two or three of the most important partsand would affix these and pass them on to the next who add a part and pass the growing article on to another who would do the same, and so on until the complete arm is put together". . Samuel also had an interest in navigation, and in 1830, he set out for a year long voyage. Later years Colt later purchased a large tract of land beside the Connecticut River, where he built a larger factory called the Colt Armory, a manor that he called Armsmear, and employee housing. [29] The shorter chambers were loaded to 50 grains of powder, instead of 60 grains in the earlier Walkers, to prevent the occurrence of ruptured cylinders. During 1843 the army gave Colt an order for 200,000 of the tinfoil cartridges packed 10 to a box for use in muskets. He then traveled to France to promote his invention, and there he heard about the emerging conflict between the United States and Germany. During 1869, gun makers James Warner and Massachusetts Arms infringed on the patent. [11] This instrument and patent number 1304, dated August 29, 1836, protected the basic principles of his revolving-breech loading, folding trigger firearm named the Colt Paterson. When someone infringed on the patent, Colt sued and the court ordered that Colt receive royalties on each gun that had been sold by the rival company. However, Samuel Colt's legacy extends beyond his contributions to the firearms industry. [42], In 1867, Colt's widow, Elizabeth, had an Episcopal church designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter built as a memorial to him and the three children they lost. It was during this time that he made arrangements to begin building guns using proper gunsmiths from Baltimore, Maryland. During tests of the foil cartridges, 25 rounds were shot from a musket without cleaning. Soon after the failure of the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, he teamed with Samuel Morse to lobby the US government for funds. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Samuel Colt was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. The reception was moderate and the army purchased a few thousand rounds for further testing. [8] [22][23], Colt did not refrain long from manufacturing and began selling underwater electrical detonators and waterproof cable of his own invention. Samuel lived at address. If God didn't make men equal, Samuel Colt did" - Samuel Colt. [19], Colt imperiled his own company by his reckless spending. Samuel Colt's parents: Samuel Colt's mother was Ethel Barrymore Samuel Colt's father is Russell Colt Samuel Colt's siblings: Samuel Colt's sister is Ethel Colt Samuel Colt's brother is John Colt Samuel Colt's grandparents: Samuel Colt's grandfather was Maurice Barrymore Samuel Colt's grandmother was Georgina Barrymore [52] During a tour of the factory, Charles Dickens was so impressed with the facilities that he recorded his comments of Colt's revolvers in an 1852 edition of Household Words:[53]. [57] He used the newspress to his own advantage by giving revolvers to editors, prompting them to report "all the accidents that occur to the Sharps & other humbug arms", and listing incidents for which Colt weapons had been "well used against bears, Indians, Mexicans, etc". The first completed pistol exploded when it was fired, but the rifle performed well. He began promoting the telegraph companies so he could create a greater market for his cable, for which he was to be paid $50 per mile. His professional responsibilities were turned over to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis. 4. One brother, James, became a lawyer; another, Christopher, was a textile merchant. [23], Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War and saw first-hand their effective use as his 15-man unit defeated a larger force of 70 Comanches in Texas. [4][5] On the Corvo, Colt made a wooden model of a pepperbox revolver out of scrap wood. Early years Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Christopher Colt, a farmer who had moved his family to Hartford when he changed professions and became a businessman, and Sarah Colt ne Caldwell, who died before Samuel was seven years old. Colt. The standard at the time was to have powder and ball contained in a paper or skin envelope or "cartridge" for ease of loading. We encourage you to research and examine these records to . Skip . Samuel P. Colt, who built the show case farm was a grandson of the famous DeWolf family of Bristol. Eli Whitney, Jr., the only son of inventor Eli and his wife Henrietta Edwards Whitney was born on November 20, 1820. When he opened the London armory, he posted a 14-foot sign on the roof across from Parliament reading: "Colonel Colt's Pistol Factory" as a publicity stunt, which was noted by the British press. Please try again. Research genealogy for Samuel Colt, as well as other members of the Colt family, on Ancestry. During 1848, Colt introduced smaller versions of his pistols known as Baby Dragoons that were made for civilian use. A Collection of Interesting, Important, and Controversial Perspectives Largely Excluded from the American Mainstream Media George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). In an attempt to attract skilled European-immigrant workers to his plant, Colt built a village near the factory away from the tenements which he named Coltsville and modeled the homes after a village in Potsdam. [34] Ever the opportunist, when the War with Mexico was ended, Colt sent agents south of the border to procure sales from the Mexican government. His use of interchangeable parts helped him become one of the first to use the assembly line efficiently. Only one gun fitting White's design was ever made, and it was not considered practical for the ammunition of the time. Biological father was Samuel Colt, stepfather was Samuel's brother, John Colt. [14], Colt never claimed to have invented revolvers; his design was a more practical adaption of Collier's earlier revolving flintlock incorporating a locking bolt to keep the cylinder aligned with the barrel. Logo - Rampant Colt The family tree for Samuel Colt is still in progress. [55], When foreign heads of state would not grant him an audience, as he was only a private citizen, he persuaded the governor of the state of Connecticut to make him a lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp of the state militia. [45] The idea was not new but was never successful in industry at the time because of the lack of interchangeable parts. Referencing the encyclopedia, Samuel built a homemade galvanic cell and advertised as a Fourth of July event during that year that he would explode a raft on Ware Pond using underwater explosives; although the raft was missed, the explosion was still impressive. Skip Ancestry main menu Main . Colt's waterproof cable, made from tar-coated copper, proved valuable when Morse ran telegraph lines under lakes, rivers, and bays and made attempts to lay a telegraph line under the Atlantic Ocean. Commissioned by Elizabeth Colt in 1902, the foundation for the Samuel Colt Monument was laid in April 1905 and the memorial was dedicated, in a ceremony, on April 26 th, 1906. We encourage you to research and examine these . Tucker added that Colt associated his revolvers with American patriotism, freedom, and individualism while asserting America's technological supremacy over Europe's. Skip Ancestry navigation Main Menu. Home; Trees; . Have you taken a DNA test? Miriam Harris (1699-1765) 12. Zenas lived in 1910, at address, Massachusetts. Many proponents said that "Colt won the West". [6] The Colt Revolver was the most popular handgun used on the Western frontier by gunslingers, Western pioneers, peace officers, outlaws, cowboys, and the military. Zenas married Cynthia M Colt. [6] He had learned about nitrous oxide (laughing gas) from the factory chemist of his father's textile plant, so he took a portable laboratory on tour and earned a living performing laughing gas demonstrations across the United States and Canada, calling himself as "the Celebrated Dr.Coult of New-York, London and Calcutta". [25], When tensions with the British prompted Congress to appropriate funds for Colt's project toward the end of 1841, he demonstrated his underwater mines to the US government.