Cassin, John (06 September 1813–10 January 1869), ornithologist and printing company executive, was born near the present site of Media, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas Cassin, a Quaker farmer, and Rachel Sharpless. Cassin attended a Quaker School in Westtown, Pennsylvania, and studied under private tutors. His interest in natural history developed as the result of the emphasis placed on the subject by Quaker schools at that time; this proved decisive in Cassin’s choice of avocation. He began observing and identifying birds on the family property in his mid-teens, and as an adult he regretted that he had not gotten out into the field more often to go birdwatching. At age twenty-one he went to Philadelphia, where he worked first in merchandising and then at the U.S. Customs House. When J. T. Bowen, an engraver and lithographer, died, Cassin assumed the management of Bowen’s firm and continued to supply illustrations for various scientific books and periodicals and for federal government publications....
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Cassin, John (1813-1869), ornithologist and printing company executive
Keir B. Sterling
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Revere, Paul (1734-1818), craftsman, patriot, and businessman
Nina Zannieri
Revere, Paul ( December 1734–10 May 1818), craftsman, patriot, and businessman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Paul Revere, a goldsmith, and Deborah Hichborn (or Hitchborn). Revere’s father, born Apollos Rivoire, emigrated from France to Boston in 1715 at the age of thirteen and apprenticed with John Coney, a prominent local gold/silversmith. Shortly before his marriage he changed his name, first to Paul Rivoire and then to Paul Revere. The son’s birth date has long been the source of confusion since only his baptismal date, 22 December 1734 OS and 1 January 1735 NS, is recorded. Revere’s early life, fairly typical of boys of his day and economic status, included basic schooling at the North Writing School. During his teens he entered into a formal agreement with fellow North End youths to ring the bells at Christ Church for a fee. Revere’s own words, “My Father was a Goldsmith. … I learned the trade of him,” confirm that as the eldest surviving son, he apprenticed with his father, thus beginning his most enduring occupation. Though overshadowed by the fame of his son, the elder Revere’s skill as a gold/silversmith may actually have equaled that of his son. The younger Revere noted that his father died “in the year 1754, he left no estate, but he left a good name.” Just nineteen years old, Revere ran the shop with the help of his mother. In 1756 he received a commission as a second lieutenant of artillery and spent the better part of a year on an unsuccessful expedition to capture the French fort at Crown Point on Lake Champlain....
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Seaton, William Winston (1785-1866), journalist
Joseph P. McKerns
Seaton, William Winston (11 January 1785–16 June 1866), journalist, was born at his family’s stately homestead, “Chelsea,” in King William County, Virginia, the son of Augustine Seaton and Mary Winston, Virginia gentry. Seaton was tutored at home before he attended Ogilvie’s Academy in Richmond. At age seventeen he learned the printing trade in the offices of the ...
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Thomas, Isaiah (1749-1831), printer and newspaperman
Richard F. Hixson
Thomas, Isaiah (19 January 1749–04 April 1831), printer and newspaperman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Moses Thomas and Fidelity Grant. His grandfather, Peter Thomas, was a successful merchant, but his father fell victim to a roving spirit and failed to settle on an occupation. Left to his mother’s tutelage after his father’s death in 1752, Isaiah Thomas began his printing apprenticeship in June 1756 in the shop of Zechariah Fowle, whom he later described in his ...
