William Seward Burroughs and the Burroughs Family
Born in Rochester, New York on January 28, 1857.
Dies in Citronelle, Alabama on September 14, 1989.
Burial at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
William S. Burroughs was the inventor of the first practical adding machine. More precisely his idea was to make a machine that would add as well as print that was being added. His machine was a great benefit for business accounting. William was not a wealthy, nor from a wealthy family. One wonders what his family went though while he was spending long hours designing and working on that machine. How did they manage. His wife, also stricken with TB had small children to care for and feed. They moved to St. Louis, presumably for health reasons, far from their families back in New York. Except for William's father who was with them during their first 5 years in St. Louis, from 1880 to 1885. The adding machine company didn't get the first 100 production machines to sell until 1891. Somehow they made it work. This is about William, and his family and who they were.
His father was Edmond Burroughs (b. 1825 d. 1892) and mother Julia Ellen Whipple Burroughs (b.1833 d. 1922). They were married in 1850, in Auburn. Edmond's family was from Michigan, and Julia's from New York. William was probably named after William Henry Seward, a popular politician in New York state at the time, who lived in Auburn. His father worked as a factory machinist and self employed tool and model maker, in Rochester, New York. His business was listed as "E. Burroughs, manufacturer of Machinery Tools and General Machinist", in the 1859 Rochester City Directory. William had one older brother Charles E, one older sister Annie B, and a younger brother, James W.
While William was still a small boy in 1860, his parents moved to Lowell, Michigan. Edmond's parents James C and Rosetta lived in that area. In 1871 they moved to Auburn, New York. They lived at 11 Adams in the early 1870's, but then moved just down the block to 3 Adams, where the family stayed until Ellen moved in with James in the late 1890's. There is an account that he left high school early at the age of 15, and went to work for a bank in Auburn. In our modern day thinking it would be hard to understand that a bank would employ a 15 year old, high school drop out to perform hand math for their accounting. However the 1874-76 Auburn city directory lists him as a Post Office Clerk. There was one year he is listed as a teller at the Cayuga County National Bank. During his time at the bank he would have finally realized the need for a reliable printing adding machine. Brother James related that William was also a "Discount Clerk" at the bank, and broke down from overwork when the bank took on discount work for DM Osborne Company. In 1878 the Auburn City Directory lists him as a Box Maker, and he is living with his parents, at 3 Ads Street. Also living there are his sister Annie and brother James. At this time James, who is only 18 is already listed as a printer and Annie as a music teacher.
William married Ida Selover (b.1859 d. 1896) in Groton, New York in 1879. Her father lived in Moravia, New York, which is at the south end of Lake Owesco. Auburn is at the north end of this finger like lake. Groton is just to the south of Moravia.
They eventually had 4 children, Jennie E, Horace Seward, Mortimer Perry, and Helen C. By 1880 William's health declined and this is possibly the the reason he moved to a warmer climate. St. Louis was not only in a warmer climate, but was to the west, and the third largest city in the US at that time.. Their eldest child (Jennie) was born in St. Louis, the first year in their new home. William, Ida and family moved to various homes or apartments during their time in St. Louis, staying only a year or two at most in any one place. Most were in the downtown area, close to the shop.
During the census in 1880, William's father Edmund was recorded staying as a boarder at William's residence. It is possible that Edmund traveled with and helped William and Ida move and get started in St. Louis.
However, Edmund started up his business in St. Louis and stayed a few years. After 1880, Edmund lived separately, but always in the downtown area, near his business. His business initially was at their home at 114 N 7th, then the business moved to 613 N Chestnut. He was listed as "E Burroughs, Mechanic, Models and light Machinery Designed and Executed". He had a Modeling business there from 1880 to 1885 as he is listed as a Modeler. In 1882 William was listed as a Coll (maybe Collector?) and a machinist in 1880, 1884, and 1886. After 1885, Edmund returned to Auburn. By 1995 the adding machine was completed, and patent applied for . Maybe Edmund was helping financially as well during the lean :inventing years", and now William could began his adding machine enterprise on his one.
In 1889 Edmund built a boat from "Sheet iron", in the fall he traveled in the boat from new York to Florida, the plan was to return to New York in the spring. But the plan changed, and in the spring he traveled to St. Louis to visit William.While there he became seriously ill and could not continue. He suffered from the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain, which was first thought to be fatal, but he recovered. After some time he recovered sufficiently for William to escort him back to Auburn.
The Adding Machine. William found work space at the Boyer Machine Shop, a fully equipped shop. He possibly paid for use of the work space, or Boyer let him use the 12 X 14 roof top room above his Dickson Street machine shop. Still materials would have been costly. Since some of the census list William as a machinist, he may have been employed by Boyer at times as well. William was listed as employed by Boyer in 1892, this is during the time Boyer machine was manufacturing the adding machines. Boyer was an inventor himself and did reportedly help William along in the early years of inventing the adding machine, but did not get involved directly within the American Arithmometer Company until 1898. Boyer assigned a teenager, A.J. Doughty, to help William as needed. A J stayed with William, and the American Arithmometer Company, and the Burroughs Adding Machine Company until 1946, when he retired, he as the President of the company.
It is amazing that during the same time, these two inventors worked in the same small shop on their inventions! Boyer was granted patent first in 1887 on his Railway Speed Recorder, and his Pneumatic Hammer followed a few years later. Boyer's success with his inventions caused him to build a much larger manufacturing building at 21st and Washing Streets. Space that adding machine production would soon need.
William worked many long days at the shop constructing the machine. All of his drawings were done on metal, so there would never be any variance. It was recorded that he once spent three days and nights, without rest at his bench until he solved a problem. After several years of work, the machine was working. However, after some models were made, it was found they all had a problem that had plagued some other attempted calculating machines by other men. The machine worked, but was accurate or inaccurate, depending on the person operating it. The mechanics moved differently, depending on how hard the force used to operate it. This was the final obstacle to perfecting the machine. William went back to work on the problem and eventually solved it. It required another invention, the Dash Pot. This mechanism controlled the rate and force the machine operated at, and it worked perfectly every time, for any operator.
It took at least two years to develop a working model of a non-printing adding machine. He filed for patents January 10, 1885 (311,116). Shortly thereafter William became acquainted with or was introduced to Thomas Metcalfe, aa lawyer. Mr. Metcalfe eventually brought together two other men that would, along with Burroughs, form the American Arithmometer Company. Corporate chartered in the state of Missouri for the purpose of manufacturing Burroughs Adding Machines, in St. Louis. Of the 1000 original shares, William received 283 and 1/3 shares, as did the other founding stockholders. However there were times during the early years of the company that there was no money for the payroll. William and A J received shares of stock during those periods.
The company was formed on January 15th, 1886, Officers elected on January 21st, 1886 and the first board of directors meeting was on January 23rd, 1886.
William was Vice President of the company from 1886 to 1891. He was also on the board of directors from 1886 to 1891 and then again in 1893. He held some minor jobs with the company also, such as Superintendent of Buildings.
Patent for the original adding machine, applied for January 10, 1885, was granted on August 21, 1888. Also, other patents he had filed for improvements to the original machine were granted at about he same time, including patent 388119 printing adding machine with regulator (dash pot).
In spite of his health problems, he traveled to London, England in 1890 to promote his adding machine there. He had with him a specially built model that was configured to work with the English monetary system. He was successful and Burroughs Ltd. was established. This separate company was acquired by the Burroughs Adding Machine Company some years later.
Now they needed a way to make the machines, and a way to sell the machines. William was not directly involved with this process at the time. in 1891, the American Arithmometer Company placed an order with Boyer Machine for 100 machines, at a cost of $375.00 per machine. And contracted with Commercial Adding Machine Company to sell all the machines manufactured. They would sell the machines for $475.00 per machine. The era of the business machine began.
As his health continued to fail, Burroughs moved to Citronelle, Alabama. This was probably in 1896 as the church there recorded that Ida died within two weeks of their arrival. He purchased a house just out of the village, which still stands today.
Citronelle was said to have the purest water anywhere on earth and was a major health spa type destination, in the late 1800's. Hotels were built to accommodate clients and visitors. There were large pools for bathing.
In 1897 the Franklin Institute awarded William the John Scott medal. The John Scott Award is an award given to inventors whom are particularly deserving because their invention(s) contributed to the "comfort, welfare, and happiness" of humankind. The bronze medal was sent to the American Arithmometer Company, who forwarded it to William in Citronelle. However, after his death, the medal could not be located and the American Arithmometer Company paid to have a duplicate made.
Along with the medal was a check for $20. William had correspondence with the Franklin Institute several times before, they wanted to know how the machine worked. He refused to tell them until after he had perfected it, and only after he was satisfied with it. In September 1897 he wrote a long letter to them thanking them for the medal and the check, he had just received these items. He also wanted to know who put them up to all this and why the check was dated in May, and he had just received it in September. However, he also asked the Franklin Institute to send any future correspondence for him c/o the American Arithmometer Company.
William Seward Burroughs died in September 1898, he had TB and his life only lasted 41 years. While living in Citronelle only a few years, he donated the only memorial window the First Presbyterian Church has ever had, the only one it still has today.
He had made a major contribution to the world, did something many before him had tried and failed to perfect. His invention started the Business Machines industry, from which many companies formed and grew, which in turn supported many jobs and careers.
As both William and Ida died so young, the family's place in the growing adding machine business was lost. His children were too young to get involved with the company, the rest of his and Ida's family lived too far away. Most of the wealth from the invention and company slipped away. They had William's shares of stock to divide, the only account of any of them holding on to their shares long enough to become valuable, was that of Mortimer who sold his just before the crash of 1929. And Helen was only 6 when William died, somehow she got along and was living in Detroit in 1913 when she was married. One wonders if someone at American Arithmometer had brought her up there, on the Clover Leaf Express.
Dies in Citronelle, Alabama on September 14, 1989.
Burial at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
William S. Burroughs was the inventor of the first practical adding machine. More precisely his idea was to make a machine that would add as well as print that was being added. His machine was a great benefit for business accounting. William was not a wealthy, nor from a wealthy family. One wonders what his family went though while he was spending long hours designing and working on that machine. How did they manage. His wife, also stricken with TB had small children to care for and feed. They moved to St. Louis, presumably for health reasons, far from their families back in New York. Except for William's father who was with them during their first 5 years in St. Louis, from 1880 to 1885. The adding machine company didn't get the first 100 production machines to sell until 1891. Somehow they made it work. This is about William, and his family and who they were.
His father was Edmond Burroughs (b. 1825 d. 1892) and mother Julia Ellen Whipple Burroughs (b.1833 d. 1922). They were married in 1850, in Auburn. Edmond's family was from Michigan, and Julia's from New York. William was probably named after William Henry Seward, a popular politician in New York state at the time, who lived in Auburn. His father worked as a factory machinist and self employed tool and model maker, in Rochester, New York. His business was listed as "E. Burroughs, manufacturer of Machinery Tools and General Machinist", in the 1859 Rochester City Directory. William had one older brother Charles E, one older sister Annie B, and a younger brother, James W.
While William was still a small boy in 1860, his parents moved to Lowell, Michigan. Edmond's parents James C and Rosetta lived in that area. In 1871 they moved to Auburn, New York. They lived at 11 Adams in the early 1870's, but then moved just down the block to 3 Adams, where the family stayed until Ellen moved in with James in the late 1890's. There is an account that he left high school early at the age of 15, and went to work for a bank in Auburn. In our modern day thinking it would be hard to understand that a bank would employ a 15 year old, high school drop out to perform hand math for their accounting. However the 1874-76 Auburn city directory lists him as a Post Office Clerk. There was one year he is listed as a teller at the Cayuga County National Bank. During his time at the bank he would have finally realized the need for a reliable printing adding machine. Brother James related that William was also a "Discount Clerk" at the bank, and broke down from overwork when the bank took on discount work for DM Osborne Company. In 1878 the Auburn City Directory lists him as a Box Maker, and he is living with his parents, at 3 Ads Street. Also living there are his sister Annie and brother James. At this time James, who is only 18 is already listed as a printer and Annie as a music teacher.
William married Ida Selover (b.1859 d. 1896) in Groton, New York in 1879. Her father lived in Moravia, New York, which is at the south end of Lake Owesco. Auburn is at the north end of this finger like lake. Groton is just to the south of Moravia.
They eventually had 4 children, Jennie E, Horace Seward, Mortimer Perry, and Helen C. By 1880 William's health declined and this is possibly the the reason he moved to a warmer climate. St. Louis was not only in a warmer climate, but was to the west, and the third largest city in the US at that time.. Their eldest child (Jennie) was born in St. Louis, the first year in their new home. William, Ida and family moved to various homes or apartments during their time in St. Louis, staying only a year or two at most in any one place. Most were in the downtown area, close to the shop.
During the census in 1880, William's father Edmund was recorded staying as a boarder at William's residence. It is possible that Edmund traveled with and helped William and Ida move and get started in St. Louis.
However, Edmund started up his business in St. Louis and stayed a few years. After 1880, Edmund lived separately, but always in the downtown area, near his business. His business initially was at their home at 114 N 7th, then the business moved to 613 N Chestnut. He was listed as "E Burroughs, Mechanic, Models and light Machinery Designed and Executed". He had a Modeling business there from 1880 to 1885 as he is listed as a Modeler. In 1882 William was listed as a Coll (maybe Collector?) and a machinist in 1880, 1884, and 1886. After 1885, Edmund returned to Auburn. By 1995 the adding machine was completed, and patent applied for . Maybe Edmund was helping financially as well during the lean :inventing years", and now William could began his adding machine enterprise on his one.
In 1889 Edmund built a boat from "Sheet iron", in the fall he traveled in the boat from new York to Florida, the plan was to return to New York in the spring. But the plan changed, and in the spring he traveled to St. Louis to visit William.While there he became seriously ill and could not continue. He suffered from the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain, which was first thought to be fatal, but he recovered. After some time he recovered sufficiently for William to escort him back to Auburn.
The Adding Machine. William found work space at the Boyer Machine Shop, a fully equipped shop. He possibly paid for use of the work space, or Boyer let him use the 12 X 14 roof top room above his Dickson Street machine shop. Still materials would have been costly. Since some of the census list William as a machinist, he may have been employed by Boyer at times as well. William was listed as employed by Boyer in 1892, this is during the time Boyer machine was manufacturing the adding machines. Boyer was an inventor himself and did reportedly help William along in the early years of inventing the adding machine, but did not get involved directly within the American Arithmometer Company until 1898. Boyer assigned a teenager, A.J. Doughty, to help William as needed. A J stayed with William, and the American Arithmometer Company, and the Burroughs Adding Machine Company until 1946, when he retired, he as the President of the company.
It is amazing that during the same time, these two inventors worked in the same small shop on their inventions! Boyer was granted patent first in 1887 on his Railway Speed Recorder, and his Pneumatic Hammer followed a few years later. Boyer's success with his inventions caused him to build a much larger manufacturing building at 21st and Washing Streets. Space that adding machine production would soon need.
William worked many long days at the shop constructing the machine. All of his drawings were done on metal, so there would never be any variance. It was recorded that he once spent three days and nights, without rest at his bench until he solved a problem. After several years of work, the machine was working. However, after some models were made, it was found they all had a problem that had plagued some other attempted calculating machines by other men. The machine worked, but was accurate or inaccurate, depending on the person operating it. The mechanics moved differently, depending on how hard the force used to operate it. This was the final obstacle to perfecting the machine. William went back to work on the problem and eventually solved it. It required another invention, the Dash Pot. This mechanism controlled the rate and force the machine operated at, and it worked perfectly every time, for any operator.
It took at least two years to develop a working model of a non-printing adding machine. He filed for patents January 10, 1885 (311,116). Shortly thereafter William became acquainted with or was introduced to Thomas Metcalfe, aa lawyer. Mr. Metcalfe eventually brought together two other men that would, along with Burroughs, form the American Arithmometer Company. Corporate chartered in the state of Missouri for the purpose of manufacturing Burroughs Adding Machines, in St. Louis. Of the 1000 original shares, William received 283 and 1/3 shares, as did the other founding stockholders. However there were times during the early years of the company that there was no money for the payroll. William and A J received shares of stock during those periods.
The company was formed on January 15th, 1886, Officers elected on January 21st, 1886 and the first board of directors meeting was on January 23rd, 1886.
William was Vice President of the company from 1886 to 1891. He was also on the board of directors from 1886 to 1891 and then again in 1893. He held some minor jobs with the company also, such as Superintendent of Buildings.
Patent for the original adding machine, applied for January 10, 1885, was granted on August 21, 1888. Also, other patents he had filed for improvements to the original machine were granted at about he same time, including patent 388119 printing adding machine with regulator (dash pot).
In spite of his health problems, he traveled to London, England in 1890 to promote his adding machine there. He had with him a specially built model that was configured to work with the English monetary system. He was successful and Burroughs Ltd. was established. This separate company was acquired by the Burroughs Adding Machine Company some years later.
Now they needed a way to make the machines, and a way to sell the machines. William was not directly involved with this process at the time. in 1891, the American Arithmometer Company placed an order with Boyer Machine for 100 machines, at a cost of $375.00 per machine. And contracted with Commercial Adding Machine Company to sell all the machines manufactured. They would sell the machines for $475.00 per machine. The era of the business machine began.
As his health continued to fail, Burroughs moved to Citronelle, Alabama. This was probably in 1896 as the church there recorded that Ida died within two weeks of their arrival. He purchased a house just out of the village, which still stands today.
Citronelle was said to have the purest water anywhere on earth and was a major health spa type destination, in the late 1800's. Hotels were built to accommodate clients and visitors. There were large pools for bathing.
In 1897 the Franklin Institute awarded William the John Scott medal. The John Scott Award is an award given to inventors whom are particularly deserving because their invention(s) contributed to the "comfort, welfare, and happiness" of humankind. The bronze medal was sent to the American Arithmometer Company, who forwarded it to William in Citronelle. However, after his death, the medal could not be located and the American Arithmometer Company paid to have a duplicate made.
Along with the medal was a check for $20. William had correspondence with the Franklin Institute several times before, they wanted to know how the machine worked. He refused to tell them until after he had perfected it, and only after he was satisfied with it. In September 1897 he wrote a long letter to them thanking them for the medal and the check, he had just received these items. He also wanted to know who put them up to all this and why the check was dated in May, and he had just received it in September. However, he also asked the Franklin Institute to send any future correspondence for him c/o the American Arithmometer Company.
William Seward Burroughs died in September 1898, he had TB and his life only lasted 41 years. While living in Citronelle only a few years, he donated the only memorial window the First Presbyterian Church has ever had, the only one it still has today.
He had made a major contribution to the world, did something many before him had tried and failed to perfect. His invention started the Business Machines industry, from which many companies formed and grew, which in turn supported many jobs and careers.
As both William and Ida died so young, the family's place in the growing adding machine business was lost. His children were too young to get involved with the company, the rest of his and Ida's family lived too far away. Most of the wealth from the invention and company slipped away. They had William's shares of stock to divide, the only account of any of them holding on to their shares long enough to become valuable, was that of Mortimer who sold his just before the crash of 1929. And Helen was only 6 when William died, somehow she got along and was living in Detroit in 1913 when she was married. One wonders if someone at American Arithmometer had brought her up there, on the Clover Leaf Express.