Famous People

Samuel Colt was born in 1814 in Hartford, Connecticut.  He was famous for being the inventor of the repeating pistol.  In 1835, Colt built a factory where he produced arms used in the Mexican War.  After his death in 1862, his company made the six-shooters that were used throughout the west.

Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts, on December 8, 1765.  Even as a boy he showed mechanical ability.  He made a violin when he was only 12 years old. During the Revolutionary War, he had his own business: making nails. After the war, times were hard and Whitney had no money for college. He taught school for five years, earning $7.00 a month, and entered Yale College at 23. He graduated in 1792. He then went to Georgia to teach and study law. When he got there, he found another man had taken the job. General Nathaniel Greene’s widow invited him to be her guest while he studied law. While there, he invented the cotton gin.  Whitney died in 1825.