Various types of gins existed before Whitney's. Angela Lakwete's
"Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America"
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003) describes some of these previous
gins going way back in time. She writes that "Whitney patented a new
ginning principle" and "built a new kind of gin." I'd recommend taking
a look at it.
Trenton Hizer
Library of Virginia
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jeremy Boggs
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 10:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cotton Gin listed in 1791 probate inventory
Hi List,
A few colleagues of mine are working on a website that puts early
Virginia probate inventory information online. Someone noticed that in
the inventory of Moore Fauntleroy, from Richmond county, VA, that has a
"cotton gin" listed in 1791, a year or two before Eli Whitney invented
the cotton gin (1793) and was granted a patent for the gin in 1794.
Assuming that Fauntleroy's probate inventory was taken within a year of
his death, his cotton gin predates Whitney's gin at least 2-3 years,
perhaps more if Fauntleroy in fact owned the cotton gin earlier.
So, our questions:
1. Was the cotton gin invented earlier that we think? Do we have
Whitney's invention date wrong?
2. Were there other devices, not necessarily associated with Whitney,
that were called "cotton gins", and if so, did they differ significantly
from Whitney's invention?
3. How often was the term "cotton gin" used before Whitney's invention?
And how far back? Does anyone know of any other references to a cotton
gin that predate Whitney?
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Jeremy
--
Jeremy Boggs
Web/Multimedia Associate
Center for History and New Media
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MSN 3G1
Fairfax, VA 22030
[log in to unmask]
703.993.3956
http://chnm.gmu.edu
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