150,000,000, the
second application was denied.

During the Civil War, Howe enlisted as a private soldier in the 17th
Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. He went into the field and served as an
enlisted man. On occasion when the Government was pressed for funds to
pay its soldiers, he advanced the money necessary to pay his entire
regiment.

Howe did not establish a sewing-machine factory until just before his
death in 1867. One of his early licensees had been his elder brother,
Amasa, who had organized the Howe Sewing Machine Company about 1853.
When Elias began manufacturing machines on his own, he sunk into the
bedplate of each machine a brass medallion bearing his likeness. Elias
gave his company the same name that his elder brother had used. As this
had been Amasa's exclusive property for many years, he took the matter
to the courts where the decision went against Elias. He then organized
the Howe Machine Company and began to manufacture sewing machines. On
October 3, 1867, Elias died in Brooklyn, New York, at the home of one of
his sons-in-law. The company was then carried on by his two sons-in-law,
who were Stockwell brothers. In 1872 the Howe Sewing Machine Company was
sold by Amasa's son to the Stockwells' Howe Machine Company, which in
turn went out of business in the mid-1880s.

ALLEN BENJAMIN WILSON

Allen B. Wilson was born in the small town of Willett, Cortlandt County,
New York, in 1824. At sixteen he was apprenticed to a distant relative,
a cabinetmaker. Unfortunate circumstances caused him to leave this
employ, and in 1847 Wilson was in Adrian, Michigan, working as a
journeyman cabinetmaker. The place and year are important, for it was at
this time that he conceived his idea of a sewing machine. Because of the
distant location, it is believed that he was not aware of similar
efforts being made in New England. Wilson became ill and for many months
could not work at his trade. By August 1848 he was able to work again
and found employment at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Resolving to develop
his idea of a sewing machine, he worked diligently and by November had
made full drawings of all the parts, according to his previous
conceptions.

In comparison to the monetary returns received by the inventors Howe and
Singer, Wilson himself did not receive as great a monetary reward for
his outstanding sewing-machine inventions. Because of his health Wilson
retired in 1853, when the stock company was formed, but h