William Colgate: Founder of Colgate & Company
Business Owner · Consumer Goods
William Colgate apprenticed with a New York soap-boiler, then in 1806 set up a starch, soap and candle business on Dutch Street that became Colgate-Palmolive.
About William Colgate: Founder of Colgate & Company
William Colgate (January 25, 1783 to March 25, 1857) was an English-American industrialist who in 1806 founded what became the Colgate-Palmolive company. He was born in Hollingbourne, Kent, the son of Robert Colgate, a farmer and politician, and Sarah Bowles, and the family moved to a farm near Shoreham when he was six. His father sympathized with both the American and French Revolutions, and his republican ideals led him in March 1798 to leave the farm and emigrate to Baltimore, Maryland; the family settled on a farm in Harford County. Robert formed a partnership with Ralph Maher to manufacture soap and candles, and teenage William helped out, but the partnership dissolved after two years and the family later settled in Delaware County, New York. William went to New York City in 1804 and began work as an apprentice to a soap-boiler. Observing what he regarded as mismanagement, he learned lessons to apply to a business of his own, and at the close of his apprenticeship wrote to dealers in other cities seeking to establish himself with them. In 1806 he set up a starch, soap and candle business on Dutch Street in New York. Sources: English Wikipedia (William Colgate, accessed September 2026).
Basic Information
Founder, Colgate & Company (1783-1857)
Company Details
Colgate-Palmolive
Soap, Oral Care, Consumer Goods
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