Monadnock Moment No. 136

Multi Era 4-6: 1832 to 1889

Taylor's Thermometers

George Taylor was born in a Stoddard, New Hampshire farmhouse in 1832. His grandfather had settled nearby and cleared the surrounding land forty years earlier. George spent his early years on the family farm, but as a teenager, he headed west to seek his fortune.

George Taylor stopped in Rochester, New York where he met David Kendall, a young man whose father had been a pioneer thermometer maker. In 1851 Taylor, aged 19 and David Kendall pooled their resources, slightly more than $300, and began to manufacture thermometers on their own. The two men worked alone in one room over a drug store. Kendall made the thermometer tubes and Taylor handled the assembly, bookkeeping, and sales. The firm moved to larger quarters within a few months and the business expanded rapidly. The company soon began to produce barometers as well. Kendall left the firm in 1853 and Taylor continued on his own. Taylor's brother Frank later joined the firm which became known as Taylor Brothers. The company continued to expand, new instruments were added to the line, and Taylor thermometers were sold across the country. Three of George's sons joined the firm. One of them made the first sales trip to Europe, opening a world market.

Stoddard native George Taylor died in 1889, thirty-eight years after he made his first thermometer. His children and grandchildren continued his firm which became known around the world as the Taylor Instrument Company.