Eli Whitney

In 1817, Whitney got married to Henrietta Edwards, granddaughter of the evangelist Jonathan Edwards, daughter of Pierpont Edwards, head of the Democratic Party in Connecticut, which helped Whitney to move in Elite class.

He died in 1825 of prostate cancer in New Haven, Connecticut; he was 59 years old at the time. He was survived by his widow, Henrietta, and his four children.

Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts to Eli Whitney, Sr. and Elizabeth. His father was a well-to-do famer. Though he grew up on a farm, but he was inclined towards machinery and technology from an early age.

Whitney’s mother died when he was 11 and his stepmother was against his further studies in a university. He started a nail manufacturing function during Revolutionary War and worked as a farmer and a school teacher to make money.

Whitney attended the Yale College and graduated in 1792, and worked hard to become a lawyer. After graduation, he started to tutor in South Carolina as he lacked funds to become a lawyer.

The widow of the Revolutionary hero Gen. Nathanael Greene, Mrs. Greene invited Whitney to visit her Georgia plantation, Mulberry Grove and read law there. Her plantation was managed by her fianc� Phineas Miller, who was a Yale graduate.

Greene realized the lack of a money crop in the immediate area as the tobacco business was getting dilapidated. Although green-seed cotton was extensively obtainable, it took a lot of time and labor to extract the fiber.

Greene’s financial support helped Whitney to work through the winter to invent a machine that was able to quickly and efficiently clean the cotton using coordination of hooks, wires and a rotating brush.

When Whitney demonstrated his ‘cotton gin’ to his colleagues, they were stunned to witness the device that was able to clean a large amount to cotton in less than an hour. The machine received immediate response.

In 1794, Whitney along with Greene’s fianc� Miller patented the machine. They intended to install the gins throughout the South and charging farmers two-fifths of resulting profits. This is the reason why the machine started getting widely pirated.

During the period of his illness from cancer, Whitney invented several machinery to mechanically ease his pain.

There is a Yale University program for non-traditional students, named after this inventor - 'The Eli Whitney Students Program’.

He used his status as a Yale alumnus to build his arms business and clientele.