Joseph Glidden
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Farwell Glidden (January 18, 1813 – October 9, 1906) was an American businessman and farmer. He was the inventor of the modern
barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...
. In 1898, he donated land for the Northern Illinois State Normal School in DeKalb, Illinois, which was renamed as
Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...
in 1957.


Early life

Glidden was born in
Charlestown, New Hampshire Charlestown is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,806 at the 2020 census, down from 5,114 at the 2010 census. The town is home to Hubbard State Forest and the headquarters of the Student Conservation As ...
, of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
descent. His family later moved to
Clarendon, New York Clarendon is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 3,648 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from Clarendon, Vermont. The Town of Clarendon is in the southeast part of the county. New York State Route 31A an ...
. Glidden was a teacher there for about 8 years, during which years he married Clarissa Foster in 1837. In 1843, he moved to
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
with his wife and children, first to Ogle County and then to DeKalb where they had purchased a farm. His wife died in 1846, in childbirth of their daughter in Ogle County, Illinois. Their three children, including the infant daughter Clara (Clarissa) died in an epidemic in 1847. Their two sons died after the move. Glidden married Lucinda Warne in 1851, with whom he had one daughter, Elva Frances.


Invention and patent for barbed wire

Glidden began work on ways to make a useful barbed wire to fence cattle in 1873. He made his best design of barbed wire by using a coffee mill to create the barbs. Glidden placed the barbs along a wire and then twisted another wire around it to keep the barbs in place, in a design that he called “The Winner”, being his best design. He received the patent for that barbed wire design on November 24, 1874, when he was 61 years old. He and local hardware dealer Isaac L. Ellwood began manufacturing and selling the barbed wire with his patent, as the Barb Fence Company in
DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian- French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died ...
. In 1876, Glidden exited the manufacturing aspect, though retaining royalties, by selling his half of the manufacturing business to Washburn and Moen, who had a wire manufacturing plant in Worcester, Massachusetts and from whom Glidden and Ellwood had been purchasing steel wire. Ellwood stayed in DeKalb and renamed the company I. L. Ellwood & Company of DeKalb. That company evolved into American Steel and Wire, and eventually was bought by U. S. Steel Manufacturing Company. Glidden was embroiled in a legal battle initiated by fellow DeKalb resident
Jacob Haish Jacob Haish (March 9, 1826 – February 19, 1926) was one of the first inventors of barbed wire. His type of barbed wire was in direct competition with the other barbed wire manufacturers in DeKalb, Illinois. He was a known carpenter and archit ...
over whether the design for holding the barbs in place with an extra strand of wire was novel, an improved design. An earlier patent for barbed wire had been issued to a man in Ohio, among other patents related to barbed wire. Glidden eventually won at the US Supreme Court in an 1892 case, his patent protection expired the same year. The legal fees were estimated to have cost Glidden $100,000. This invention made him extremely rich. It was estimated that Glidden earned $1,000,000 in royalties until his patent expired in 1892. Companies manufacturing the barbed wire under his license ranged from New York state to Kansas by 1884. By the time of his death in 1906, he was one of the richest men in America. The
Dun & Bradstreet The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...
Collection, 1840–1895, MSS 791, LXIII, 130, Baker Library,
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, recorded his assets at one million dollars. This included the Glidden House Hotel; the ''DeKalb Chronicle''; 3,000 acres (12 km2) of farmland in Illinois; 35,000 acres (1,360 km2) in Texas; and the Glidden Felt Pad Industry.


Local political activity and other businesses

From 1852 to 1854, he served as sheriff of
DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama * DeKalb County, Georgia * DeKalb County, Illinois * DeKalb County, Indiana * DeKalb County, Missouri ...
. In 1851, 1861, 1862, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, and 1876 he served on the county's board of supervisors. In 1867, he served on the executive committee of DeKalb County Agriculture and Mechanical Society's Seventh Annual Fall Fair, held September 25–28. In 1876, he was the Democratic nominee for
Illinois State Senator The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the I ...
. From 1861 to 1874, he served as a member of the board of school directors, and for 20 years paid the largest school tax of any citizen of the county. He was also one of the largest contributors to the erection of one of the churches. He was also vice-president of the DeKalb National Bank, director of the
North Western Railroad The North Western Railroad was a shortline railroad located in the western part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in the United States. It organized in 1853, and was purchased by the Western Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859 after completing only a p ...
, and owner of the DeKalb Rolling Mill.


Demonstration of use in Texas changes ranching

To demonstrate the effectiveness of barbed wire, Glidden and his sales agent for the
State of Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...
, Marques Fortner, in 1881 developed the "Frying Pan Ranch" in
Bushland In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure. Human survival in bushland has a whole mythology evolving ...
in Potter County near
Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and th ...
, Texas. The wire was brought in by wagon from the railhead at
Dodge City Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, and the timbers were cut from
Palo Duro Canyon Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the cities of Amarillo, Texas, Amarillo and Canyon, Texas, Canyon. As the second-largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly long and has an ...
and along the Canadian River Valley. A herd of 12,000 head of cattle was branded with the ''"Panhandle Brand"'', which the cowboys called ''" frying pan"''. The ranch proved the success of the wire and changed ranching. Henry B. Sanborn, a sales representative for Glidden's company, owned a ranch in Grayson County north of
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
and wished to advertise barbed wire there. In 1881, Sanborn purchased ninety-five sections of land in southwestern Potter County from near the Canadian River extending into Randall County south of Amarillo. Included in the purchase was Tecovas Spring, once a watering site and a trading post for Indians and
Comanchero The Comancheros were a group of 18th- and 19th-century traders based in northern and central New Mexico. They made their living by trading with the nomadic Great Plains Indian tribes in northeastern New Mexico, West Texas, and other parts of the ...
s. John Summerfield, a surveyor from
Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), a surname and given name (and list of persons with the name) ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a tank Sherman may also refer to: Places United St ...
, Texas, reported a constant flow of freshwater from the spring. Sanborn chose this site for his ranch headquarters and enclosed 120 miles of land in barbed wire for $39,000 ($ in dollars). Warren W. Wetzel, also of Sherman, used
cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...
posts brought from both the Palo Duro Canyon and the breaks of the Sierrita de la Cruz in the northwestern portion of the ranch to hold up the wire. Besides ranchers, railroads were large purchasers of barbed wire, so that cattle did not stray onto their tracks. The Frying Pan Ranch soon had 15,000 head of cattle, and 125,000 more acres were added. Later the ranch was divided. In 1898, Glidden deeded Frying Pan Ranch to his son-in-law William Henry Bush. Between 1908 and 1920, William Henry Bush and his second wife Ruth Bush built a larger ranch house near Tecovas Spring, which later became the residence of
Stanley Marsh 3 Stanley Marsh 3 (January 31, 1938 – June 17, 2014) was an American artist, businessman, philanthropist, and prankster from Amarillo, Texas. He is perhaps best known for having been the sponsor of the Cadillac Ranch, an unusual public art exhi ...
and his wife, Wendy. Gwendolyn “Wendy” Bush O’Brien was the daughter of Emeline Bush and her husband Frank O’Brien; Emeline was a daughter of William Henry and Ruth Bush. Stanley Marsh called the estate “Toad Hall.”


Land for the Northern Illinois State Normal School

Glidden, a former teacher, gave 63 acres (255,000 m2) of his homestead as a site for the Northern Illinois State
Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...
. The school opened on September 12, 1898, with 139 students and 16 members of the faculty. The school's name was changed to
Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...
in 1957. The town of
Glidden, Iowa Glidden is a town in Carroll County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,151 at the time of the 2020 census. History Glidden was laid out as a town in 1866. It was named either for Capt. W. T. Glidden, a railroad promoter, or in honor of ...
, is named in his honor.


Personal life

He and his wife Lucinda had one daughter, Elva Frances, in 1851. She married William Henry Bush in DeKalb on February 1, 1877. His wife Lucinda died on October 28, 1895. Elva died in 1906 not long before her father died, and is buried in the Glidden family plot in a cemetery in DeKalb. In 1898, Glidden deeded his Frying Pan ranch in Texas to his son-in-law, W. H. Bush. Bush married again in 1908, after being widowed, to Ruth Russell Gentry. He is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.


In popular culture

The "barbed wire salesman" in ''
Back to the Future Part III ''Back to the Future Part III'' is a 1990 American science fiction Western film and the final installment of the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Stee ...
'' is either based on Joseph F. Glidden or
John Warne Gates John Warne Gates (May 18, 1855 – August 9, 1911), also known as "Bet-a-Million" Gates, was an American Gilded Age industrialist and gambler. He was a pioneer promoter of barbed wire. He was born and raised in what is now West Chicago, Illinois ...
who was a pioneer promoter of barbed wire. He is played by
Richard Dysart Richard Allen Dysart (March 30, 1929 – April 5, 2015) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Leland McKenzie in the television series ''L.A. Law'' (1986–1994), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award from four consecutive nom ...
.


See also

* Joseph F. Glidden House * The Barbed Wire Patent


Patents

* – ''Wire fences''


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Glidden, Joseph Farwell 1813 births 1906 deaths 19th-century American inventors People from DeKalb, Illinois People from Charlestown, New Hampshire People from Clarendon, New York Businesspeople from Illinois Illinois sheriffs Illinois Democrats County board members in Illinois School board members in Illinois Northern Illinois University people 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople