Thomas Lister Kay
Thomas Lister Kay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1837 or 1838[a] Yorkshire, England |
| Died | April 27, 1900 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Known for | Founding the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill |
| Children | 10, including Thomas B. Kay |
| Relatives | C. P. Bishop (son-in-law) |
Thomas Lister Kay (born 1837 or 1838; died 1900) was an English-born textile worker and businessman who founded the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in Salem, Oregon.
Biography
[edit]Thomas Lister Kay was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1837 or 1838.[a] Kay immigrated to the United States in 1857, working in several textile mills on the East Coast before moving to Oregon in 1863 to begin a job as a loom boss at a mill in Brownsville.[1]
After the Brownsville mill burned in 1865, Kay found work at a variety of different mills in Oregon, but returned to Brownsville after the mill was rebuilt in 1875. He continued working there until the mill was dissolved in 1888.[1]
Kay left the Brownsville mill as a co-owner, with a personal fortune of $55,000. Kay was interested in starting his own company and began exploring the possibility of opening a mill in Salem, Oregon.[4] After securing $20,000 in backing from the citizens of Salem, the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Company was incorporated in 1889.[5]
Kay died at St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon, on April 27, 1900.[6] According to The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: "At the time of his death Kay was recognized as the foremost woolen manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest."[7]
Personal life
[edit]Kay married Ann Slingsby in 1857, shortly before he left for the United States.[8] The couple had ten children, five of whom died before their parents. The couple's surviving children included Thomas B. Kay, who took over the family business after his father's death; and Martha Ann "Fannie" Kay, who would go on to found Pendleton Woolen Mills with her husband, C. P. Bishop, and three sons.[1][9]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Vandegrift, Amy. "Thomas Lister Kay (1838–1900)". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
- ↑ "Thomas Kay Woolen Mill". Willamette Heritage Center. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
- ↑ Portrait and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company. 1903. p. 587. LCCN 10023243 – via Archive.org.
- ↑ Lomax 1974, pp. 19–20.
- ↑ Lomax 1974, pp. 24–25.
- ↑ "His Long Rest: Hon. Thomas Kay Died Last Night". Oregon Statesman. April 28, 1900. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Kay, Thomas". The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 34. New York: James T. White & Company. 1948. p. 456 – via HathiTrust.
- ↑ "Salem's Woolen Mill: A Fine Building Full of Fine Machinery". Daily Oregon Statesman. January 1, 1890. p. 1, col. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Pendleton Historical Timeline". Pendleton Woolen Mills. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
Bibliography
[edit]- Lomax, Alfred L. (1974). Later Woolen Mills in Oregon: A History of the Woolen Mills Which Followed the Pioneer Mills. Binfords & Mort. ISBN 0-8323-0238-4.
External links
[edit]- 1830s births
- 1900 deaths
- 19th-century American businesspeople
- 19th-century English businesspeople
- American businesspeople in the textile industry
- British businesspeople in the textile industry
- American weavers
- British weavers
- English emigrants to the United States
- People from Brownsville, Oregon
- People from Salem, Oregon
- 19th-century American artisans
- 19th-century American male artists