William Colgate

William Damian "Will" Colgate (January 25, 1783 – March 25, 1857) was an American manufacturer who founded what became the Colgate toothpaste company in 1806.

History

Born in Hollingbourne, Kent, England, Colgate was the second son of Robert Colgate and his wife Sarah (née Bowles).

Robert Colgate (1758–1826) was an 18th century English farmer, politician and sympathiser with the American War of Independence and French Revolution whose republican ideals impelled him to leave their farm in Shoreham, Kent in March 1798 and emigrate to Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States of America, after which the family settled on a farm in Harford County, Maryland. Colgate formed a partnership with Ralph Maher to manufacture soap and candles, and William helped the two men, but the partnership dissolved after two years.

William Colgate was born in the parish of Hollingbourn, County of Kent, England, on 25 January 1783. He was the son of Robert and Mary (Bowles) Colgate.

Robert Colgate was a farmer by occupation, and a man of superior intelligence. He warmly sympathized with the American colonies in their struggle with the mother-country before and during the war of the Revolution. Hating despotism in every form, he hailed the triumph of the French revolutionists in their struggles to throw off the regal yoke. Political considerations constrained him to leave England for this country in March, 1798. The family settled on a farm in Hartford Co., Md.

William Colgate came to New York City in 1804. He there obtained employment as an apprentice to a soap-boiler, and learned the business. Young as he was, he showed even then that quickness of observation, which distinguished him in after-life. He closely watched the methods practiced by his employer, noting what seemed to him to be mismanagement, and learned useful lessons for his own guidance. At the close of his apprenticeship he was enabled, by correspondence with dealers in other cities, to establish himself in the business with some assurance of success. He followed it through life, and became one of the most prosperous men in the city of New York. This circumstance, together with his great wisdom in counsel, and his readiness to aid in all useful and practicable enterprises, gave him a wide influence in the community, and especially in the denomination of which he was from early life an active and honored member.

Of the occurrence which led to his connection with that denomination he gave the following account to the writer of this sketch. For some time after coming to New York, he attended worship with the congregation of the Rev. Dr. Mason, then one of the most eminent preachers of the Presbyterian Church. Writing to his father, an Arian Baptist, of his purpose to make a public profession of his Christian faith in connection with the Presbyterian Church, he stated the chief points of his religious belief, quoting a ?thus saith the Lord? for each. He received a kind reply cordially approving of that course, and asking for a ?thus saith the Lord? in proof of sprinkling as Christian baptism, and of the baptism of infants as an ordinance of Christ. Happening to read the letter in an evening company of Christian friends, members of the church he attended, he remarked on leaving them that he must go home and answer his father?s questions.  ?Poor young man,? exclaimed an intelligent Christian lady when he was gone, ?he little knows what he is undertaking!? He found it so. And he found it equally hard to be convinced, by Dr. Mason?s reasoning, that something else than a ?thus saith the Lord? would do just as well.

The Rev. William Parkinson, pastor of the First Baptist church in New York, baptized him in February, 1808. In 1811 he transferred his membership to the church in Oliver Street. In 1838 he became a member of the church worshiping in the Tabernacle, to the erection of which he had himself largely contributed.

He annually subscribed money to assist in defraying the current expenses of Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, afterward Madison University and Theological Seminary ; and he was among the most strenuous opposes of their removal to the city of Rochester. He was a regular contributor to the funds of the Baptist Missionary Union, and took upon himself the entire support of a foreign missionary. His other benefactions were numerous, but not such as admit of specification.

He married Mary Gilbert and had at least two sons, Samuel Colgate and James Boorman Colgate. The sons were both beneficiaries of the seminary in Hamilton, New York, called Madison University. After seven decades of the Colgates' involvement, the school was renamed Colgate University in 1890. His son Robert built Stonehurst at the Bronx about 1860. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

External links

• The Reformed Reader biography