Parlin, William bio

Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 219-220; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
William Parlin. There is probably no resident of this count whose work is so widely known as that of the gentlemen above name, who is the pioneer manufacturer of the noted Canton Clipper Plow. Since the day when he landed in this place, then a small village, he has instituted and carried to successful operation a mammoth business enterprise, has materially assisted in the upbuilding of the flourishing city, and won for himself a comfortable fortune. These results have left him the same unostentatious and kingly man he was before Fortune had smiled upon him. To the men employed in the establishment he is a sympathizing friend, possessing their confidence in a remarkable degree. He is the oldest continuous plow manufacturer in the entire Northwest.
Mr. Parlin was born in Acton, Mass., January 21, 1817, being the fourth of five children born to Warner and Lydia (Davis) Parlin. His parents were natives of the same county as himself and the Fathers of each were Revolutionary soldiers. A cousin of Grandfather Davis, one Capt. Davis, was the first officer killed at Concord. The Parlins are of English descent. Warner Parlin was a farmer by occupation and of considerable prominence in the vicinity of his home. He passed his days in the old Bay State, dying about the year 1838 in the sixty-seventh year of his age. His wife also breathed her last in her native Sate. Of their children he of whom we write and an elder brother are all that survive.
Our subject passed his boyhood on the farm, pursuing the advantages open to him in the common schools. Having no taste for agriculture, he determined to learn the trade of a blacksmith and in his seventeenth year entered upon an apprenticeship. By the time he became of age he had mastered all departments of the business and was ready to begin work as a journeyman. He traveled throughout his own State and then drifted west to St. Louis, Mo., stopping for a time and working at his trade. After settling his bills he started North on a steamboat, arriving at Copperas Creek Landing on the Illinois river on the Fourth of July, 1840. After paying his passage his finances were reduced to twenty-five cents which he expended in reaching Canton. He little dreamed of what awaited him in the village that he entered with a kit consisting of three hammers tied up in a leathern apron.
Mr. Parlin at once applied for work and was employed by R. C. Culton. His first work was done on Monday morning, July 6. Mr. Emory went to the shop to get a froe made for splitting lath to plaster on, wishing it to be about half the size of a cooper’s froe. Mr. Culton had a job on hand and as Mr. Emry was in a hurry, asked his new journeyman if he could make the utensil. The prompt reply was, “I will try, sir.” Selecting a suitable piece of iron and getting his fire in shape he drew and turned the eye, with the next heat shaped the froe nearly half way, and with the third finished it. Mr. Emry, who was himself a blacksmith, always declared that it was the quickest and most mechanical piece of work he had ever seen done. He then and there predicted a successful future for the young strange. The implement then made by our subject was present to him by a son of its original owner on July 4, 1890, when friends gathered to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in Canton.
After working for Mr. Culton a year, young Parlin was taken into partnership by him, the connection continuing two years and being then dissolved by mutual consent. Mr. Parlin then started in business on his own account, his first shop being a very cheap one, scarcely more than a shed, but under his humble roof he laid the foundation of the present magnificent Canton Plow Works. At first he devoted himself to general blacksmithing during the summer and to making a few plows in the winter, hammering the moldboard by hand out of wrought iron. He also made other tools needed by the farmers, proving himself quite a benefactor to the community in those early days. As his business increased he built a brick shop which is still standing and in use as a part of his present works. In 1873 the large three-story brick building, 260x300 feet in dimensions, was erected, furnished with an engine of 125-horse power and various kinds of machinery adapted for the business.
The establishment at present furnishes employment for three hundred and twenty-five to three hundred and fifty men. The Canton Clipper Plow has been sold in every part of the civilized world and has been shipped in quite a number to the British possessions, also to Mexico and South America. Although this implement is the most noted of the manufactures of the company, their cultivators and harrows also bear a good reputation. Five traveling salesmen are kept on the road obtaining orders. In 1853 Mr. Parlin took W. J. Orendorff in as a partner and in 1867 the firm was merged into an incorporated company under the State laws. Upon reorganization William Parlin became President, W. J. Orendorff Vice President and Treasurer, and W. J. Parlin Secretary.
At the home of the bride in Orion Township January 7, 1845, Mr. Parlin was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Orendorff, daughter of John Orendorff, Esq., who came to this county in 1825, from South Carolina. She is a sister of W. J. Orendorff of the Plow Company. During the many years in which she has been the honored companion of our subject she has been worthily caring out her obligations as a wife and mother and fulfilling the duties she owes to society. She and her husband have had four children, two sons and two daughters. Artemus F., the first-born, has been removed from them by death. The only son now living is the Secretary and Manger of the company. Clara E., the third child, is yet with her parents; Alice C., is the wife of Charles E. Ingersoll, a dealer in lumber in Canton.
Mr. Parlin has filled several offices of trust, having been Supervisor of Canton Township, a member of the City Council one term, and of the School Board for a much more extended period. In politics he is a stanch Republican. He is proud of the fact that his first Presidential vote was case for the Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, and that he has lived to see a grandson of that official filling the same exalted station. He is a member of Morning Star Lodge, No. 734, A. F. & A. M., and was President of the Masonic Mutual Benefit Society for twelve years. His attractive residence with its beautiful grounds is pointed out to every visitor of the city as the home of a man whom all delight to honor, joining in the wish expressed on the anniversary of this advent into the county - that many more may be allotted him before his life’s work is complete.