Aretas Blood

Aretas Blood (October 8, 1816 – November 24, 1897) was an American businessman from Vermont. He played an important role in the manufacture of early American railroad steam locomotives.

Biography

Blood was born in Weathersfield, Vermont, the son of Nathaniel Blood and Roxellana (Proctor) Blood. As a child he moved with his parents to Windsor, Vermont where he attended the common schools. At the age of 17, as railroads began to be built in the United States, he was apprenticed as a blacksmith. After a few years learning the trade, he moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was hired by the Locks and Canals Machine Shop. 1849 brought a new title to Blood at a different foundry, when he took the position of "job hand" at the Essex Machine Shop.

At the Essex Machine Shop Blood manufactured locomotive parts and he built up enough of a cash reserve that he was able to purchase a share of the Manchester Locomotive Works when it opened in 1853. Blood took over the shop superintendent position at Manchester in 1857 when the original superintendent, O. W. Bayley, left the company.