Robert McCormick Jr. (June 8, 1780 – July 4, 1846) was an American inventor who invented numerous devices including a version of the

reaper A reaper is a agricultural machinery, farm implement or person that wikt:reap#Verb, reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were ...

which his eldest son

Cyrus McCormick Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the ...

patented in 1834. Although he lived his life in rural

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, he was patriarch of the

McCormick family The McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia is an American family of Scottish and Scotch-Irish descent that attained prominence and fortune starting with the invention of the McCormick Reaper, a machine that revolutionized agriculture, helped b ...

that became influential throughout the world, especially in large cities such as

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life

McCormick was born June 8, 1780, on the family estate of Walnut Grove in

Rockbridge County, Virginia Rockbridge County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its county seat is the city of Lexington. Rockbridge County completely surrounds the in ...

, in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

on the western side of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

. His parents were Revolutionary War veteran Robert McCormick Sr. and Martha (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Sanderson) McCormick. Robert Jr. had five elder siblings: George, Martha, Elizabeth, William, and James. McCormick's maternal grandparents were Scottish immigrants, George Sanderson and Catharine (née Ross) Sanderson. His paternal grandparents were Thomas (1702–1762) and Elizabeth (''

'' Carruth) McCormick, Presbyterian immigrants born in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

and

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

respectively who married in 1728 and settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1735.

Career

McCormick and his wife Polly raised their eight children on the farm who grew up helping in the shop and the mill. He frequently busied himself with small gadgets and inventions around the farm. By 1809, McCormick had constructed a partially completed

. He eventually decided to formalize some of his work when he applied for a patent in 1830 for a "hemp-break", a device for breaking

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

and

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

. He also produced a

threshing Threshing, or thrashing, is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History ...

machine, a clover sheller of stone, a blacksmith's

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...

and a hill-side

plow A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

. By 1831, he had completed a reaper. He was encouraged by Polly to give it to their assertive and business-minded son

Cyrus Cyrus ( Persian: کوروش) is a male given name. It is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great ( BC). Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan ( BC), King of Persia and the grandfather of Cyrus ...

, who was able to improve and patent it in 1834 and establish the

McCormick Harvesting Machine Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

which led to the great wealth the family accumulated.

Personal life

On February 11, 1808, McCormick was married to Mary Ann McChesney "Polly" Hall (1780–1853), a daughter of Patrick Hall and Susan (née McChesney) Hall, and was granted ownership of Walnut Grove, the family estate, in 1810. Together, Robert and Polly were the parents of eight children: * Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809–1884), who moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and married Nettie Fowler in 1858. * Robert Hall McCormick (1810–1826). * Susan Jane McCormick (1813–1826). *

William Sanderson McCormick William Sanderson McCormick (November 2, 1815 – September 27, 1865) was an American businessman who developed the company that became the major producer of agricultural equipment in the 19th century. The business became the International Harves ...

(1815–1865), who joined Cyrus in Chicago and married Mary Ann Grigsby in 1848. * Mary Caroline McCormick (1817–1888), who married Rev. James Shields IV in 1847. *

Leander James McCormick Leander James McCormick (February 8, 1819 – February 20, 1900) was an American inventor, manufacturer, philanthropist, and businessman and a member of the McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia. Along with his elder brothers Cyrus and William ...

(1819–1900), who also joined Cyrus in Chicago and married Henrietta Maria Hamilton in 1845. * John Prestly McCormick (1820–1849). * Amanda Joanna McCormick (1822–1891), who married Hugh Adams in 1845. He died on July 4, 1846. He and his wife were buried in the cemetery of the

Old Providence Stone Church Old Providence Stone Church is a historic church in Spottswood, Virginia in Augusta County, Virginia. A log structure was built in the area by 1743 for early settlers known as the South Mountain Meeting House. In 1746 the congregation split, ...

just north of the estate.

Legacy

In 2002, Robert Jr. and his three surviving sons had a variety of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

named after them, for "inventing, perfecting, manufacturing, and marketing of the mechanical grain reaper

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

ushered in the era of modern agriculture and wrought one of the greatest advancements in agricultural history." ''McCormick'' is a soft red

winter wheat Winter wheat (usually ''Triticum aestivum'') are strains of wheat that are planted in the autumn to germinate and develop into young plants that remain in the vegetative phase during the winter and resume growth in early spring. Classification ...

(''

Triticum aestivum Common wheat (''Triticum aestivum''), also known as bread wheat, is a cultivated wheat species. About 95% of wheat produced worldwide is common wheat; it is the most widely grown of all crops and the cereal with the highest monetary yield. Ta ...

L.'') developed and released in May 2002 by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.Registration of 'McCormick' Wheat, by C. Griffey, et al., Crop Science, 45: 417-419 (July 31, 2005)

Family tree

References

Bundled references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Robert 1780 births 1846 deaths 19th-century American inventors American people of Scotch-Irish descent American people of Scottish descent McCormick family People from Rockbridge County, Virginia