Thomas Lister Kay

Thomas Lister Kay
Born1837 or 1838[a]
Yorkshire, England
Died(1900-04-27)April 27, 1900
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Known forFounding the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill
Children10, including Thomas B. Kay
RelativesC. P. Bishop (son-in-law)

Thomas Lister Kay (born 1837 or 1838; died 1900) was an English-born textile worker and businessman who founded the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in Salem, Oregon.

Biography

Thomas Lister Kay was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1837 or 1838.[a] Kay immigrated to the United States in 1857, working in several textile mills on the East Coast before moving to Oregon in 1863 to begin a job as a loom boss at a mill in Brownsville.[1]

After the Brownsville mill burned in 1865, Kay found work at a variety of different mills in Oregon, but returned to Brownsville after the mill was rebuilt in 1875. He continued working there until the mill was dissolved in 1888.[1]

Kay left the Brownsville mill as a co-owner, with a personal fortune of $55,000. Kay was interested in starting his own company and began exploring the possibility of opening a mill in Salem, Oregon.[4] After securing $20,000 in backing from the citizens of Salem, the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Company was incorporated in 1889.[5]

Kay died at St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon, on April 27, 1900.[6] According to The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: "At the time of his death Kay was recognized as the foremost woolen manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest."[7]

Personal life

Kay married Ann Slingsby in 1857, shortly before he left for the United States.[8] The couple had ten children, five of whom died before their parents. The couple's surviving children included Thomas B. Kay, who took over the family business after his father's death; and Martha Ann "Fannie" Kay, who would go on to found Pendleton Woolen Mills with her husband, C. P. Bishop, and three sons.[1][9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b The Oregon Encyclopedia gives Kay's date of birth as June 24, 1838.[1] Other sources give Kay's year of birth as 1837.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Vandegrift, Amy. "Thomas Lister Kay (1838–1900)". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
  2. ^ "Thomas Kay Woolen Mill". Willamette Heritage Center. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
  3. ^ Portrait and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company. 1903. p. 587. LCCN 10023243 – via Archive.org.
  4. ^ Lomax 1974, pp. 19–20.
  5. ^ Lomax 1974, pp. 24–25.
  6. ^ "His Long Rest: Hon. Thomas Kay Died Last Night". Oregon Statesman. April 28, 1900. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Kay, Thomas". The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 34. New York: James T. White & Company. 1948. p. 456 – via HathiTrust.
  8. ^ "Salem's Woolen Mill: A Fine Building Full of Fine Machinery". Daily Oregon Statesman. January 1, 1890. p. 1, col. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Pendleton Historical Timeline". Pendleton Woolen Mills. Retrieved December 27, 2025.

Bibliography

  • Lomax, Alfred L. (1974). Later Woolen Mills in Oregon: A History of the Woolen Mills Which Followed the Pioneer Mills. Binfords & Mort. ISBN 0-8323-0238-4.
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