Thomas Kensett, was an early American engraver who published a key map of the area of conflict during the opening stages of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. He later entered into a partnership with his father-in-law to patent and produce the first

tin can A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English), steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans re ...

s in America.

Early years

Born and baptized James Isaac Thomas Kensett to Thomas & Sarah Kensett in

St Mary's Parish Church, Hampton St Mary's Parish Church, Hampton, is an Anglican church in Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Location St Mary's Parish Church is at the junction of two major roads A308 and A311, leading to Twickenham, Kingston upon Thames a ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

on 16 August 1786. He immigrated to the United States and was in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

by 1806. During this time he set up shop as an engraver and married Elizabeth Daggett on 9 May 1813. Kensett was listed on a return to the State Department as an alien enemy sometime between 1812 and 1814, suggesting that he had not yet obtained

US citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

Engraving and New Haven

He began his career in England as an engraver at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...

. His earliest engraved map in America was a plan of the town of

created by James Wadsworth in 1748 and printed by Kensett in 1806. Kensett became a member of the firm of Shelton & Kensett, engravers and publishers in Cheshire, Connecticut about 1812. There he created a map titled "To the Officers of the Army and the Citizens of the United States, This Map of Upper and Lower Canada and United States Contigious" dated November 4, 1812. It was published under the engraver credit line as either "Thomas Kensett" or "Engraved by T. Kensett, Cheshire & A. Doolittle, New-Haven" or "Shelton and Kensett". This is one of the few maps to show the area of conflict at the outset of the

and includes many of the forts in the north-east United States, Upper & Lower Canada. The firm of Shelton & Kensett is also known to have reworked and relettered an engraved bust of George Washington after Gilbert Stuart, which appeared in the Connecticut Magazine, or Gentleman's and Lady's Monthly Museum. The firm also created Masonic aprons (c. 1812) currently held by the

National Heritage Museum The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, formerly known as the National Heritage Museum and the Museum of Our National Heritage, is a museum located in Lexington, Massachusetts. Its emphasis is on American history and Freemasonry, and it conta ...

. About this time, Kensett joined the Masonic Temple Lodge No.16 in Cheshire.

Move to New York and Tin Cans

By 1825, Kensett had moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he and his uncle obtained an early patent for storing food in

s and set up a small canning plant on the waterfront. This was America's first

hermetically sealed A hermetic seal is any type of sealing that makes a given object airtight (preventing the passage of air, oxygen, or other gases). The term originally applied to airtight glass containers, but as technology advanced it applied to a larger categor ...

fish, fruits, vegetables and meat. Originally stored in glass jars, Kensett found them expensive and prone to breakage so he switched to tin. He and his father-in-law, Ezra Daggett, were award the U.S. patent for preserving food in "vessels of tin" in 1825.^,^,

Family life

Married in 1813, Thomas and Elizabeth Kensett had 6 children between 1814 and 1822 including

John Frederick Kensett John Frederick Kensett (March 22, 1816 – December 14, 1872) was an American landscape painter and engraver born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of artists. Kensett's signature works ...

(1816–1872), one of America's most important 19th-century landscape painters. Thomas Kensett died 16 June 1829 at the age of 42.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kensett, Thomas 1786 births 1829 deaths American engravers 19th-century American inventors