Simeon North

North was given a farm in Berlin, a gift that enabled him to marry Lucy Savage when he was only twenty-one years old; the couple had five sons and three daughters.

Simeon hired a man to help run it, enlarged the building to house a forge and trip-hammer, and began manufacturing scythes from imported steel.

It was during this period that North is believed to have invented a milling machine, which was able to shape metal mechanically and thus replaced filing by hand.

According to Muir's book Reflections in Bullough's Pond, North "was the first arms maker to implement a number of machine production techniques, yet he cautiously halted his pursuit of mass-produced, interchangeable parts" whenever it became apparent that it was uneconomic.

The report of Charles H. Fitch prepared for the 1880 Census[2] credits North with a key role in developing manufacture with interchangeable parts.