B.
 

B. T. BABBITT, manufacturer, born on a farm at Westmoreland, N. Y., in
1809, died in New York, Oct. 20, 1889. He received a scant education, his youth being
spent in the drudgery of the farm. He first learned the trade of blacksmith, removing
to Utica. Saving his earnings, he went to Little Falls later and began the manufac¬
ture of farm machinery on a small scale with success, and, it is claimed, made the first
mowing machine which would mow ever made in the world. Having accumulated
about $10,000, he came to New York city in 1843 and began the manufacture of sale-
ratus, leaving his business at Little Falls in charge of a manager. The latter proved
recreant, and Mr. Babbitt lost every dollar he possessed. Undismayed, he soon dis¬
covered a new process for making saleratus at a great saving of cost, and in a few
years acquired control of the trade of the whole country. He also manufactured soda
and potash. In 1858 he began the manufacture of soap, from which he amassed a for¬
tune. In his factories were used many mechanical appliances of his own invention,
and among the curiosities of New York were his six kettles for boiling soap, their
aggregate capacity being 3,500,000 pounds, the value of the raw material required to
fill them before boiling being $216,000. He had branch houses in Philadelphia and
Cincinnati and a number in New York and elsewhere. His children were Ida J., wife
of C. M. Hyde, and Lillia E. Babbitt, now deceased.    Mrs. Babbitt died Dec. 20, 1894.

QEORQE HERMAN BABCOCK, inventor, engineer, manufacturer and philanthro¬
pist, distinguished in each of these fields of activity, a native of Unadilla Forks, a hamlet
near Otsego, N. Y., was born Jan. 17, 1832, and died at his home in Plainfield, N. J.,
Dec. 16, 1893. The family are of Rhode Island origin and were always thorough
Puritans, sound and reputable people and of the best blood of New England.

The father and mother of the subject of this sketch both came from families noted
for inventive genius, Asher M. Babcock, the former, being well known as a mechanic
and inventor of his times. The pin wheel motion in plaid looms, which sprang from
his ingenious brain, as well as a shoe peg machine and many other mechanical appli¬
ances, were widely adopted by the manufacturers of his period and put into successful
operation in the industries. The mother of George H. Babcock, nee Mary E. Still-
man, was a daughter of Ethan Stillman, who attained distinction in the War of 1812 as
a constructor of ordnance for the Federal Government. Her uncle, William Stillman,
a lock maker and clock manufacturer, produced a pioneer unpickable bank lock, long
before the days of Chubb and Hobbs

George H. Babcock spent most of his boyhood in the villages of Scott and Homer,
both in Cortland county, N. Y. He was a good boy and the pride of his parents. The
family moved to Westerly, R. I., when he was twelve years old. George received a
fair education, mainly in the public schools, but studied for a year in the Institute at
De Ruyter, N. Y., and fhen, a bright, ambitious and earnest young man, seventeen
years of age, he acquired a little experience in the machine shop and factory. His
father was then a manufacturer of plaids.

In Westerly, the young man met Stephen Wilcox, a capable mechanic of the village,
and later famous as an inventor, destined to be his lifelong friend and long time partner.