07/31/2026
Charles Colné: administrator, glass expert, inventor
Charles Colné was born in 1832 in Baccarat, Lorraine, France, a city that was a hub of innovation for glassware manufacturing. Charles' father, Jean-Pierre, was a manager in the industry until the revolutions of 1848 effectively shut down commerce. The Colné family sailed to New York that year.
While Jean-Pierre Colné continued his pioneering work in mechanized glass cutting (see patent drawings below), Charles gradually ascended to positions in the federal government. According to his obituary, he served as a messenger to President Abraham Lincoln. For many years, he was also employed in the US Treasury Department and was an administrator of the project to build the Panama Canal.
As if this were not enough, Charles collaborated with his father on some of his glassmaking inventions. In the 1870s, Charles shared credit with his father on two patents. In 1878, father and son presented their work at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. As assistant to the US Commissioner on Glass and Ceramics, Charles wrote an authoritative 145-page report on the glass industry for the Exposition. (The Smithsonian Institute holds 2 copies of this report in its archive today.)
Charles married Harriet S. Bowman in 1855. They had 3 sons, Charles C., Thaddeus, and William W. Complementing his father and grandfather's occupations, William was a patent attorney and NYC Assemblyman.
Charles survived his wife and three sons. In 1920, he was living at 11 Irving Place in Brooklyn, with a servant and several boarders. He died at The Chapin Home for the Aging in 1924. He is buried in Grave 2 of the Chapin Home's plot.
Rest in peace.
