The Businesses of Henry Warwood

Henry Warwood and Wife, Mary (Maria)

Though not primarily an axe manufacturing concern historically, Warwood Tool is a current producer of Axes and Pulaskis, and has offered wood chopping mauls as a product for some time, so they are certainly worth discussing here as a maker of American axes.

The company’s originator, Henry Warwood, was born on February 23rd of 1823, at Staffordshire, England, to William Warwood, a skilled tool maker who was employed in the Brades Steel Works (near Birmingham), and Sarah (Harrison) Warwood. As a young adult, Henry was also noted as working for Brades, though, in 1848, he made the decision to emigrate to the United States. As a man with a passion for iron and steel, Henry naturally settled in Pittsburgh, the prime location for iron production at the time. Initially taking a position at Postley, Nelson, and Company (a shovel and tool making business), he soon found more substantial work at the shovel and rake works of Lippincott and Company. During those first two years in the U.S. he also met and married Miss Mary Bradshaw, another English immigrant living there in Pittsburgh.

Sometime before July of 1850, Henry and Mary relocated from within the confines of Pittsburgh to what is now known as Boston, Pennsylvania, along the banks of the Youghiogheny River near where it flows into the Monongahela. At that time, the area was known as Brown’s Coal Works, as the main industry of that spot was William H. Brown’s coal business, noted as the largest in the western portion of the state at that time. It was there that Henry first began to manufacture tools, primarily those used by the coal miners under the employment of Brown, under his own name. He continued production there until he had saved up a significant amount of money, and then moved south along the Ohio River to Martin’s Ferry, Ohio.

Relocating to Martin’s Ferry in 1854, Henry had 6 years of coal mining and steel working experience here in the United States, and layering that gained culture and skill on top of 14 years of education from Brades, he formed a business plan that built upon the region’s need for agricultural tools due to spreading colonization westward along the main transit line, the Ohio River (Steam Boat travel had started on the Ohio in 1811, and the limited expanse Louisville Canal had allowed for ease of passage over the only obstruction between Pittsburgh and New Orleans in 1830), as well as the rapidly spreading use of fuel coal along that same route. At Martin’s Ferry, he could sell two very needed groups of tools directly to distributors, workers, entrepreneurs, and homesteaders, simply as they were passing by. With skill and location as a foundation, Henry started what would come to be known as the Warwood Tool Company. Starting out relatively small, the Warwood business grew rapidly and in 1868, after post war national growth had taken off, sales were high enough in volume to necessitate a new factory, still in Martin’s Ferry, but simply in a new location, this time on First Street. At the time, he had partnered with his brother Emanuel, a blacksmith himself, under the business name “Henry Warwod & Bro.”, though the two would part ways in 1871. From there forward, Henry’s business accelerate in growth through the 1880s and into the harsh economic transitions in the early 1890s.

The rapid expansion of the United States, coupled with World Wide economic uncertainty would eventually lead up to the financial panic of 1893. In the years leading to that implosive economic depression, Henry was approaching the age of 70, and, after a successful career built on hard work, was certainly looking forward towards a decent retirement. In 1892, he made the decision to sell his factory in Martin’s Ferry, the buyers being William McMasters and M K Beazle. Despite the factory and physical assets being sold in that direction, the rights to the Warwood name were not sold, nor were the rights to the established lines and advertising. These would be applied to a new business, run by Daniel L. Heiskell from the former Standard Axle Works across the Ohio River in Wheeling, West Viginia. In 1893, just a year after Henry sold his factory in Martin’s Ferry, the “Warwood Tool Company” would be incorporated in West Virginia. The initial incorporators were listed as Dan L. Heiskell, F M Heiskell, William P Burke, H T Collins, and S J Eccles. Henry, in his retirement, relocated to New York City, where, on May 27th of 1900, he passed away and was buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. The Warwood Tool Company, bearing his name would continue to modern times, and at the time of this writing, is still producing quality American made tools, including axes.

1892