Eli Whitney
Entrepreneur
Inventor of the cotton gin, a machine that separated cotton seeds from fibers.
He worked as a manufacturer, farmer, and teacher.
His cotton gin greatly sped up the cotton industry in the United States and the Antebellum South and was one of the greatest inventions of the Industrial Revolution.
He married Henrietta Edwards in 1817 and had a daughter, Pierpont Edwards.
His cotton gin also led to the growth of slavery, which Abraham Lincoln abolished.