Early Life and Rise To Prominence
Disston was born in Tewkesbury, England in 1819. As a child, he planned to moved to Albany, New York with his family in 1833. Just days after their ship arrived in Philadelphia, Disston's father died, and Disston took a job there as a saw-maker's apprentice. By 1840, he had started his own saw-making business. Around this time he married, firstly to Amanda Bickley, then after she died suddenly, to Mary Steelman.
By 1850, Disston's saws were renowned in the United States, even as compared against the English manufactures that were usually thought superior. Disston encouraged emigration from England to staff his factory with skilled workers. During the American Civil War, a protective tariff on foreign manufactured goods helped expand Disston's enterprise still more, and despite a fire that ruined the factory, Disston prospered through the 1860s.
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