Oliver Fisher Winchester

1810 - 1880  (70 years)    Has 14 ancestors and 3 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Oliver Fisher Winchester
  Birth	30 Nov 1810
  Gender	Male
  Prominent People	USA
  business, rich
  Death	11 Dec 1880
  Person ID	I302454	Geneagraphie
  Links To	This person is also Oliver Winchester at Wikipedia
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2002

  
  

  Father	Samuel Winchester   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Hannah Bates   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F121295	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Jane Ellen Hope   d. Yes, date unknown
  Children	1. Hannah Jane Winchester,   b. 1838   d. 1881 (Age 43 years) + 2. William Wirt Winchester,   b. 1838   d. 1881 (Age 43 years)
  Family ID	F121318	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Sep 2001

  
  

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  		Prominent People - business, rich - - USA  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

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• Notes

  inventor and firearms manufacturer, developer of the Winchester rifle His name is most closely associated with producing armaments actually got his start manufacturing clothing to cover men's arms. He opened a store in Baltimore making and selling shirts (1837), before moving to New York (1847) where he took on a partner. Winchester patented a new method or manufacturing men's shirts, and opened a factory in nearby New Haven, Conn. In 1850. He invested his profits from the factory into Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, becoming principal shareholder and president by 1856. Under his leadership, the company acquired rights to manufacture when he had acquired rights to manufacture pistols and rifles patented by Tyler Henry and others. The repeating rifle was in full production by 1860, and was in heavy demand during the Civil War, during which Winchester continued to improve the rifle's design by acquiring other patents. He renamed the company the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866. A political and philanthropic figure, he was lieutenant governor of Connecticut (1866–67) and made large donations to Yale. Fortune : 20,000,000 $ 1880 15,000,000 $ 1875 300,000 $ 1850 Oliver Winchester was a versatile business man who started his career as abuilding contractor in Baltimore in the 1830's, went on to New York, where he joined John M. Davies in the import of cotton goods. In 1848, he patented a new method for manufacturing shirts and with Davies started a factory in New Haven. Winchester invested the profits of his shirt factory acquiring shares in other manufacturing ventures, notably the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company of Norwich Ct. The firm had been founded in 1855 by the famous armorers Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, but in 1857 it faced bankruptcy and Winchester had the choice to bail it out or loose his already sizeable invested. He chose the former and took over the presidency as well as the majority of shares. He hired Benjamin Tyler Henry as a plant supervisor and aggressively pushed his products into ready markets. Fueled by Civil War, the firm prospered, producing 13'000 Henry rifles. In 1866, Oliver Winchester finally gave the firm his name, which became famous, notably on the overwhelming success of its Model 1866 "Yellow Boy" rifle, which was second only to Samuel Colt's revolver in the part it played for the opening of the Wild West. Winchester married Jane Ellen Hope and had two children, a son who became his main heir and a daughter who married the man who was destined to .