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biography
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Kidd, Edwin, was born on January 20, 1845, in Cawthorne, West
Riding Yorkshire, England. He was one of ten children born to
William Kidd and Elizabeth Hall.
In 1869, Edwin emigrated to the United States with his brother,
Walter Scott Kidd. The two brothers settled in Worcester,
Massachusetts, then called the "Wire Capital of the World."
Edwin knew a great deal about wire making. His father, William,
had turned his grist mill into wire producing machines and had
taught Edwin the trade.
Edwin and Walter found jobs at Washburn and Moen Company, a
large wire manufacturing firm. Walter Scott Kidd eventually
left to pursue other interests.
On January 5, 1871, Edwin married Margaret Gurry. They
eventually had thirteen children.
In 1885, Edwin decided on a fresh start in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. On October 15, 1885, Edwin, his brother William
(who had just come from England,) and a man named Rutherford
Burgher founded Kidd Steel Wire Company from an abandoned flour
mill in Harmarville, Pennsylvania.
The trio turned the factory into the first company in the United
States to make manufactured drill rod. Before Kidd Steel
existed, drill rod was imported.
By 1892, Kidd Steel was selling drill rod to many prestigious
companies. The President of American Waltham Watch Company
mentioned the high quality of Kidd Steel drill rod in a speech
to the Watchmakers Association. Also in that year, Walter Scott
Kidd and Edwin's younger brother, Harry Herbert Kidd, joined the
family firm.
Soon after Edwin's brothers entered the company, the firm broke
up. Edwin and another man left and founded Globe Wire Company,
while Walter, Harry, and Rutherford continued to own Kidd Steel
Wire Company.
Around when World War I began, Edwin sold Globe Wire Company,
which had become a rival of Kidd Steel, to Firth Sterling
Company.
Edwin Kidd died November 1, 1922, in Penn Township,
Pennsylvania.
Contributed by Kelly Selcher.
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