Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson) and the "Father of the American Factory System." In the UK he was called "Slater the Traitor" because he brought British textile technology to America, modifying it for United States use. He learned textile machinery as an apprentice to a pioneer in the British industry. Immigrating to the United States at the age of 21, he designed the first textile mills, and later went into business for himself, developing a family business with his sons. A wealthy man, he eventually owned thirteen spinning mills, and had developed tenant farms and company towns around his textile mills, such as Slatersville, Rhode Island.