Difference between revisions of "Cyrus Hall McCormick" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
(New page: thumbnail|right|Cyrus McCormick '''Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr.''' (February 15 1809May 13 1884) was an [[United States|Americ...)
 
({{Contracted}})
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
{{Contracted}}
 
[[Image:Cyrus McCormick engraving.jpg|thumbnail|right|Cyrus McCormick]]
 
[[Image:Cyrus McCormick engraving.jpg|thumbnail|right|Cyrus McCormick]]
 
'''Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr.''' ([[February 15]] [[1809]] &ndash; [[May 13]] [[1884]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[inventor]] and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of [[International Harvester|International Harvester Company]] in 1902. <ref name=whs>{{cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/ihc/cyrus.asp |title=Cyrus Hall McCormick |accessdate=2007-08-26 |quote=Cyrus H. McCormick (1809-1884) was an industrialist and inventor of the first commercially successful reaper, a horse-drawn machine to harvest wheat. He was born at the family farm (Walnut Grove) in [[Rockbridge County, Virginia]] on February 15, 1809.  His father Robert experimented with a design for a mechanical reaper from around the time of Cyrus' birth. |publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]] }}</ref>
 
'''Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr.''' ([[February 15]] [[1809]] &ndash; [[May 13]] [[1884]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[inventor]] and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of [[International Harvester|International Harvester Company]] in 1902. <ref name=whs>{{cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/ihc/cyrus.asp |title=Cyrus Hall McCormick |accessdate=2007-08-26 |quote=Cyrus H. McCormick (1809-1884) was an industrialist and inventor of the first commercially successful reaper, a horse-drawn machine to harvest wheat. He was born at the family farm (Walnut Grove) in [[Rockbridge County, Virginia]] on February 15, 1809.  His father Robert experimented with a design for a mechanical reaper from around the time of Cyrus' birth. |publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]] }}</ref>

Revision as of 13:32, 30 October 2007

Cyrus McCormick

Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. (February 15 1809 – May 13 1884) was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902. [1]

Birth

He was born at woodridge, the McCormick family farm in woodridge, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His parents were, Mary Ann Hall; and Robert Hall McCormick. His siblings included: Leander J. McCormick and William Sanderson McCormick.

Reaper

McCormick Reaper

His father, the inventor Robert Hall McCormick, worked for 16 years on a horse-drawn reaper. However, he was not able to finish his project and stopped developing it. Cyrus was given the project, and developed a final version of the reaper in 2 months. The reaper was demonstrated in tests in 1831 and was patented by Cyrus in 1834. [1]

In 1847, Cyrus and his brother Leander moved to Chicago, where they established large centralized works for manufacturing agricultural implements; they were joined by their brother William in 1849. The McCormick reaper sold well, partially as a result of savvy and innovative business practices. Their products came onto the market just as the development of railroads offered wide distribution to distant market areas. He developed marketing and sales techniques, developing a vast network of trained salesmen able to demonstrate operation of the machines in the field. William H. Seward said of McCormick's invention that owing to it "the line of civilization moves westward thirty miles each year." One of the company's most famous advertisement featured an epic painting by Emanuel Leutze with the slogan, “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way with McCormick Reapers in the Van".

Marriage and children

In January of 1858, McCormick married Nancy Maria Fowler (1846-1912), also known as Nettie Fowler. She was 23 years old. They had the following children: [2] [3]

  • Cyrus Hall McCormick II (1859-1932) who was born in Morristown, New Jersey. His son, Cyrus Hall McCormick III (1889-1970) would become Chairman of the company. [4]
  • Mary Virginia McCormick (1861-1941)
  • Robert McCormick (1863-1910)
  • Anita McCormick (1866-1954) who married Emmons Blaine (1857-1892). [5]
  • Alice McCormick (1870-1945)
  • Harold Fowler McCormick (1872–1941), who married Edith Rockefeller, youngest daughter of John D. Rockefeller. Their son was Harold Fowler McCormick, Jr. (1898-1973). [6] [7]He was a very active member of The Commercial Club of Chicago.
  • Stanley F. McCormick (1874-1947) who worked for the firm, but developed schizophrenia and retired early in 1906. [8] His wife Katharine, a suffragette, funded Gregory Pincus's research of the first birth control pill.

Awards

Numerous prizes and medals were awarded for his reaper, and he was elected a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, "as having done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man." The invention of the reaper made farming far more efficient, and resulted in a global shift of labor from farmlands to cities.

cow[[Media:<nowiki>Example.ogg

Death

McCormick died in Chicago in 1884, he had been an invalid for the past three or four years. [9] The company passed on to his grandson, Cyrus Hall McCormick III [1] The McCormick factories were later the site of urban labor strikes that led to the Haymarket Square riot in 1886. One of the reasons the employees were striking was because they were earning only $9 a week.

Archive

Cyrus McCormick's papers are held by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

External links

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cyrus Hall McCormick. Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  2. "Died.", Time (magazine), Monday, July 16, 1923. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  3. "Mrs. Cyrus McCormick Ill. Husband and Son Race to Bedside on Special Train.", New York Times, January 17, 1921, Monday. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  4. "Cyrus McCormick, 79, of Reaper Company", New York Times, April 1, 1970, Wednesday. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  5. "Progressively Progressive", Time (magazine), Friday, June 8, 1962. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  6. "Fowler McCormick Dies at 74. Ex-Chairman of Harvester.", New York Times, January 7, 1973, Sunday. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  7. World War I draft registration; Harold Fowler McCormick, Jr.
  8. "Stanley F. McCormick, Son of International Harvester Company Founder Was 72.", New York Times, January 20, 1947, Monday. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  9. "Cyrus H. McCormick Dead.", New York Times, May 14, 1884, Wednesday. Retrieved 2007-08-21.

Further reading

  • Casson, Herbert N. Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1909.
  • Lyons, Norbert. The McCormick Reaper Legend: the True Story of a Great Invention. New York: Exposition Press, 1955.
  • Sobel, Robert. The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition. New York: Weybright & Talley, 1974, ch. 2.
  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

de:Cyrus McCormick sv:Cyrus Hall McCormick

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.