The American manufacturer and inventor Elisha Graves Otis (1811-1861) was one of the inventors of the modern elevator and founded a company for their manufacture.

Elisha Otis was born near Halifax, Vermont, where his father was for many years a justice of the peace and a state legislator. He received a common education in his hometown and at the age of 19 moved to Troy, New York, where he went into the construction trade. Poor health caused him to turn to hauling goods between Troy and Brattleboro, Vermont. In a pattern that he was to repeat several times in his life, he saved enough money to start his own operation, in this case a small gristmill.

About 1845 Otis was again forced by ill health to change jobs. He moved to Albany, New York, where he became a master mechanic in a bedstead factory. Eventually he opened a small machine...