nathaniel prentice banks was born at waltham, massachusetts, the first child of nathaniel p. banks, sr., and rebecca greenwood banks, on january 30, 1816. his father worked in the textile mill of the boston manufacturing company, eventually becoming a foreman. banks went to local schools until the age of fourteen, at which point the family's financial demands compelled him to take a mill job. he started as a bobbin boy, responsible for replacing bobbins full of thread with empty ones, working in the mills of waltham and lowell. because of this role he became known as bobbin boy banks, a nickname he carried throughout his life. he was at one time apprenticed as a mechanic alongside elias howe, a cousin who later had the first patent for a sewing machine with a lockstitch design.