Milton Prince Higgins

Milton Prince Higgins (December 7, 1842 – March 7, 1912) was an American educator and industrialist who served as the first president of Norton Abrasives.

Early life and education Higgins was born on December 7, 1842, in Standish, Maine, to farmer Lewis Higgins and Susan Whitney. He was the ninth child out of ten siblings. His paternal ancestor, Richard Higgins, came to America in 1632 and was one of the founders of Eastham, Massachusetts.

Career After graduating from the College, one of the co-founders of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Ichabod Washburn, planned to appoint Higgins as the first superintendent of the Washburn Shops. As the institution hadn't opened its doors publicly yet, Washburn drew Higgins into Worcester, Massachusetts, where Higgins first worked as a drafter and mechanical engineer at the Washburn and Moen North Works District under Charles Hill Morgan during the intervening months.

At the opening of the institution, Higgins was officially appointed as the first superintendent of the Shops on December 1868. Before long, the grinding wheels found their way into the Washburn Shops in WPI, where Higgins sought interest with them.

By 1911, sponsored as president in the incorporation of the Sanford Riley Stoker Company, dedicated on the manufacturing of stokers with his son-in-law, Robert Sanford Riley, as chief promoter. Before the Stoker Company went underway, Higgins died in March 7, 1912 at Worcester, Massachusetts.

Personal life Higgins married on June 15, 1870, to Katherine Elizabeth Chapin at Manchester, New Hampshire. Chapin was known to be one of the pioneers of the Parent–Teacher Association. They had four children together:

Aldus Chapin Higgins, lawyer and businessman John Woodman Higgins, steel magnate Katherine Elizabeth Higgins, wife of Robert Sanford Riley Olive Higgins Prouty, novelist and poet