ISAAC MERRITT SINGER
October 26th 1811 – July 23rd 1875
Founder of Singer Sewing Machines and builder of
Oldway Mansion, Paignton
An item by Victoria Graham on BBC News Spotlight at the end of January caught my attention. "Torbay Council" she said, "Is considering selling Oldway Mansion in Paignton, which it claims is too expensive to maintain." Nothing remarkable in that – I’d not heard of the place. Then she continued, "Oldway Mansion was bought by Isaac Merritt Singer, the founder of the sewing machine company in 1871." Now that was interesting because I’d always thought Singer was an American company.
The research proved fascinating, Isaac Singer’s personal life equalling – if not outdoing - his business acumen. He was born in Pittstown, New York, the youngest son of Adam Singer [a German immigrant whose family name was Reisinger] and his first wife Ruth. When Isaac was 10 his parents divorced. He didn’t get on with his stepmother and at the age of 12, went to live with his older brother who had a machine shop. Here he grew into a strapping young man of 6’4” and as an apprentice learnt the machinist trade that would provide his vast fame and fortune. His real love, however, was acting and at the age of 19 he left to join a touring group of actors.
In 1830 he married Catherine Haley and there are conflicting reports about the next few years. What is known is that his personal life became complicated. He and Catherine returned to New York with their son William, born in 1834. He again worked in a machine shop, but was still bitten by the acting bug, and by 1836 was once more ‘treading the boards’. Now 25, he met 18-year old Mary Ann Sponseler and proposed marriage. In 1837 he fathered two children: Lillian by Catherine, and Isaac by Mary Ann. Not surprisingly his and Catherine’s marriage was effectively over although they didn’t divorce until 1860 on the grounds of her adultery! Mary Ann, unfazed by the fact that Isaac was already married, agreed to their presenting themselves as a married couple and over the years produced 10 children of his.
In 1839 he patented a machine to drill rock, selling it for $2000. With this money he went back to the stage, forming the Merritt players and using the name Isaac Merritt. Mary Ann appeared as Mrs Merritt. The troupe toured for about 5 years until the money ran out.
In 1844 Isaac took a job in a print shop in Fredricksberg, Ohio. Moving to Pittsburgh, he invented and patented a machine for carving wood and metal. In 1850 he was invited to Boston by Orson G Phelps to continue developing his machine. Phelps was making Lerow and Blodgett sewing machines, which were difficult to make and use.
Singer did not invent the sewing machine and never claimed to have done. It was first invented by an Englishman,Thomas Saint in 1790, and went on to be ‘invented’ several more times.
Initial machines had a chain stitch, which could easily unravel. In 1833, an American, Walter Hunt invented [but failed to patent] a machine that used a lock stitch which all subsequent machines used, including Lerow and Blodgett’s.
Isaac Singer’s cutting machine was not a success, but he saw how he could improve Lerow and Blodgett’s sewing machines by introducing a straight needle instead of a curved one, and a shuttle that moved in a straight line. He patented his design in 1851. Up to this time, industry - mainly tailors - used the heavy sewing machines, but now smaller ones were available for home use and I M Singer and Co made it happen.
Singer then crossed the Atlantic, opening a factory in Clydebank, with agencies in Paris and Rio de Janeiro, making Singer’s one of the first American multinationals. Such was his financial success that he moved his second family into a mansion on Fifth Avenue. Whilst continuing to live with Mary Ann, he had an affair with Mary Eastwood Walters who bore him a daughter, Alice. The real crunch came, however, when, already suspicious, Mary Ann spotted Isaac, driving openly in a carriage with Mary McGonigal, an employee who it later emerged had already borne him 5 children! [All these Mary’s must have made things easier for him!]
Mary Ann was furious and had Singer arrested for domestic violence. Let out on bail, but with his reputation in tatters, he fled to London with Mary McGonigal.
Shortly afterwards, Singer moved to Paris where he renewed acquaintance with Isabella Eugenie Boyer whom he had lived with in 1860. She left her husband and married Singer – being already pregnant – and the marriage lasted for the rest of his life. They had 6 children.
About the time of his final marriage, I M Singer and Co was dissolved and “The Singer Sewing Machine Company “emerged, with Singer on the Board of Trustees and a major shareholder.
Isaac and Isabella lived briefly in London and then moved to Paignton. And so finally we come to Oldway Mansion! Sadly I have not yet visited it, but “Stories of Oldway” by Joyce Packe paints a fascinating picture. Built in 19Ѕ acres, it has more than 100 rooms. The foundation stone was laid on May 10th 1873, but not finished until two months after Isaac’s death in 1875. The family were living in a smaller house he built on the estate, Isaac referring to the ‘big house’ as ‘The Wigwam’. The Rotunda was built first – a circular building housing an indoor exercise ring for the children and their horses, and a swimming pool that could be covered for balls and parties.
Built in French classical style, it boasted “large halls and bold staircases” and most of the chimneys and flues would be swept from the basement.
On July 14th 1875 one of Singer’s daughters, Alicia Merritt [no, I can’t work out who her mother was!] was married with great ceremony from Oldway Mansion. The bride wore a gown and diamond earrings each costing Ј2000. The whole town celebrated including 800 schoolchildren who had parties in their schoolrooms.
Nine days later, Isaac Singer died of “an affection of the heart and inflammation of the windpipe”. In his will he left between Ј12,000,000 and Ј15,000,000 – an unimaginable sum in 1875. He also left behind five known ‘wives’ and over 20 children.
It is said that his widow Isabella, 30 years his junior and both beautiful and intelligent, sat as the model for M Frederick-Auguste Bartoldi’s Statue of Liberty.
Paris Singer, one of their sons, was responsible for re-modelling Oldway Mansion in the style of the Palace of Versailles. Amongst his other claims to fame:
He had an affair with the American modern dancer Isadore Duncan with whom he had a son [killed in a car crash when only 3 years old]. Isadore herself was strangled in 1927 by her floaty scarf when it caught in the wheel of the open car in which she was a passenger.
Our own Sandy Cove Hotel was built for him in the 1920’s as a love nest. It was converted to a hotel in the ‘30’s but several interior features have survived the many alterations over the years.
Torbay Borough Council bought Oldway Mansion and the estate for Ј46,000 in 1946. Now for Ј1 [Seniors 75p] you can have a conducted tour, marvelling at the impressive marble staircase, painted hall ceiling and a huge painted replica of Lebrun's "The Crowning of Josephine by Napoleon". The original was sold by the Singer family in 1946 and now hangs in the Palace of Versailles. Oldway is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. [summer Sundays 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.], but don't delay, it may be sold for a super casino!
[Grateful thanks to Europa Cards and Graham Wetherley for information on Oldway Mansion.]
PP of DC
