Fred Durbin
The Annals of Iowa · 1947
bom in Detroit, Michigan, April 15, 1856; left an orphan at the age of seven when his father was killed in action in the civil war; learned to be a machinist in Chicago's then young industries as a boy and came to Marshalltown in 1880 with merely a bag of tools ; with his brother, Talbot, actually, «ven more of an inventor than David, started out in business together, operating a little machine shop at Marshalltown, their first big enterprise being the trowel, which they turned over to the Williams Brothers; then came the throatless metal shear, pumps, electrical engines and other equipment which they sold to Ryerson Brothers, now a big Chicago, 111., machine works; his biggest invention a pump which later also went to Ryer^ons ; helped on many of the other inventions, but after he and Talbot got started, David's role was chiefly that of the business man, the Lenox inventions becoming the foundation of what is now the Marshalltown Manufacturing Co.In addition to their mechanical genius, these men had a lot to do with the development of the Cooper, Fisher and Dunham industries; helped to perfect the Lennox furnace and gave the company his name, selling out forty years ago to the present owners.Mrs. Lenox died in 1912, the year he retired from active business.Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. R.