Samuel Williston (button-maker)

Samuel Williston (1795–1874) was a farmer who started the manufacture of covered buttons in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

These were initially made by hand as a cottage industry but he organised mechanisation of the process and established a substantial factory in Haydenville.

This prospered and he went on to became a great businessman and philanthropist, establishing and endowing institutions such as Williston Seminary and Amherst College.

He was a trustee of such institutions and also served in the Massachusetts General Court as a representative and senator.

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