Cornelius H. de Lamater - Life

Life

Cornelius H. DeLamater was born on August 30, 1821, in Rhinebeck, New York, his family moving to New York City when Cornelius was three years old. His father was hired by a very small iron foundry, the Phoenix Iron Works of James Cunningham on West Street, as cashier and confidential advisor. At 16, Cornelius entered the Phoenix Foundry, and at age 20, upon the death of Cunningham, he formed a co-partnership with Peter Hogg under the name Hogg and DeLamater. This firm continued from 1842 to 1857, when Hogg retired from the business. The firm was re-formed as the DeLamater Iron Works, and moved to the foot of West 13th Street on the West side of Manhattan.

At an early age, DeLamater developed an unusual ability in solving problems that were then developing in regard to steam engineering and machinery. During the Civil War he worked with Capt. John Ericsson in the development of the ironclads Monitor and Dictator which were constructed in an incredibly short space of time. In time, the DeLamater Iron Works became known as the asylum where inventors and capitalists could go to experiment and attempt new feats. The Iron Witch was next constructed, the first iron steamboat. The hot air engine of Capt. Ericsson was first introduced in the ship Ericsson which was built entirely by DeLamater. The DeLamater Iron Works was also the place where the first submarine boat, first self-propelled torpedo, first torpedo boat, and the engines for the original Monitor were built. At the time of his death, the DeLamater Iron Works employed over 1000 men.