James P. Allaire
James Peter Allaire | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | May 20, 1858[1] | (aged 72)
Resting place | Allaire Family Cemetery, Old Huguenot Cemetery, New Rochelle, New York |
Nationality | American Colonist (United States) |
Education | Less than Elementary (undocumented) |
Occupation(s) | Industrialist, Engineer, Inventor, Merchant, Philanthropist |
Spouses | Frances Duncan (m. 1804–1836)Calicia Allaire Tompkins
(m. 1846) |
Partner | Charles Soutinger |
Children | 10 |
James Peter Allaire (July 12, 1785 – May 20, 1858) was a noted master mechanic and steam engine builder, and founder of the Allaire Iron Works (est. 1815), the first marine steam engine company in New York City, and later Howell Works (est. 1822), in Wall Township, New Jersey.[2] His credits also include building both the first compound steam engine for marine use and the first New York City tenement structure.[3]
Life and career
Allaire was born either in his family's ancestral home city of
In 1802, at the age of 17, his oldest son, James Peter, began working for Francis Elsworth, a brass founder in the city. Allaire would marry Frances Duncan, a distant cousin, two years later, and he continued to advance at the brass foundry. They would eventually have nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood.
By 1806, having learned the brass business, Allaire opened his own foundry. Before the
When Soutinger died shortly thereafter, Allaire removed the business to Corlear's Hook in lower Manhattan where his brass foundry was located. By 1820, Allaire was operating that largest marine engine building shop in the United States. He personally held a number of patents for steam engine improvements developed at his shop, which was known as the James P. Allaire Works.
During the War of 1812, an embargo on British products and goods caused businessmen like Allaire much difficulty in procuring the resources needed for America's fledgling industrial base. For Allaire, the embargo created a scarcity of iron stock necessary for his manufacturing operations and led him to look at acquiring a satisfactory means of assuring a steady, inexpensive supply of raw materials.
What initially interested Allaire in the property now known as Historic Allaire Village was the presence of significant quantities of bog iron ore. This bog ore, so called because of its formation in marshes and swampy areas, was a valuable resource in America before the discovery of vast ore deposits in the mountains of Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Unlike the latter ore, bog ore is easily accessible and requires no deep shaft or strip mining to get it.
More significantly, bog ore is a renewable resource when mined and utilized with care. It is produced when rain water leaches out humic and
Family
Anthony Allaire
Allaire's uncle, Anthony Allaire, fought with the British Armies during the war under Col. Banastre Tarleton and Major Patrick Ferguson's rifle corps during the Carolina campaigns. Anthony Allaire kept a journal before and after the Battle of King's Mountain in October of 1780, recounting the battle, his capture, the Loyalists' prisoners brutal treatment, and his eventual escape to British lines in Charleston, SC.[6] There is also a transcript of his court-martial for killing a fellow soldier over a dispute about the hiring of an Irish bagpiper in Charleston to impress a girl on St. Patrick's Day in 1781.[7] He was acquitted of the charges based on a claim of self-defense. He settled in Nova Scotia, Canada after the war.
References
- ^ "James Peter Allaire" Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, allairevillage.org.
- ISBN 9781626197060.
- ^ Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1963.
- ^ "5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About James P. Allaire and His Company". Allaire Village. March 10, 2017.
- ^ Allaire Village, Inc.
- ^ "Diary of Loyalist Lieutenant Anthony Allaire of King's Mountain, 1780". www.tngenweb.org. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
- ^ "Loyalist Institute: Anthony Allaire Court Martial, Part 1 of 4". www.royalprovincial.com. Retrieved 2022-06-27.