Wide Awake in 1860

In 1860, my four-times great-uncle, Servetus Longley, invented and patented a street-sweeping machine. It’s an ingenious device, with brushes attached at an angle to a set of wheels so that the machine can be pushed along a street. This invention might have made a fortune for Servetus. In fact, in the fall of 1860, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, granted him a three-year contract to use his machine to clean the streets in the city’s western district. They withdrew the contract a few weeks later and therein lies a tale.