The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

HO THE EARLE FAMILY [SlXTH
pal married Charles Hadwen, then of Providence, R. I., and left her
sister Eliza as her successor, the number was limited only by the
extent of accommodations. The school was continued with unabated
success until 1839, when it was closed and its Principal removed to
Philadelphia, Pa.
Sarah Earle was an active and prominent member of the " Leices-
ter Female Literary Society," an association which existed during
nearly the whole of the first quarter of the present century, and
included several young ladies of superior intellectual powers. A
specimen of her contributions to the literary work of the society may
be seen in the Appendix.
William B. Earle [872-5], as has been mentioned, was the
immediate manager of his father's card business during the last
twelve or thirteen years of the life of the latter. He afterwards con-
tinued the business, in his father's name, until the decease of his
mother, in 1S49. Inheriting his father's mechanical ingenuity he
perceived, at an early period, that improvements might be made in
the Whittemore machine for pricking and setting cards ; and soon
after the patent expired, and even before his father's death, he
engaged in the manufacture of them. He completed his first one in
1829; his second, with further improvements, in 1832; and in 1837
he placed one in the exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable
Association in Boston, for which a silver medal was awarded to him.
In subsequent years he built a considerable number of them, "with
still later improvements and modifications." This business also was
suspended in 1849. Most of his machines went into the manufactory
of T. K. Earle & Co., who, in i860, gave their maker the following
testimonial :
—
William B. Earle :
"Worcester, 5 th Mo., 18, i860.
* * * * * The twenty years of your
life that have been devoted to the development of the Card Setting
Machine, have done more to bring it to perfection than the labors of
all others, and you should now be reaping the reward of your works,
that have done so much to advance the manufacturing interests of the
country.
Truly yours,
T. K. EARLE & CO."
In 1886, according to an article in the Massachusetts Spy, " a
large number" of the machines were still in use. " They are pro-
nounced," continues that article, " equal to any in the world, and by