Cyrus Hall McCormick Jr. (May 16, 1859 – June 2, 1936) was an American businessman. He was president of the

McCormick Harvesting Machine Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...

from 1884 to 1902. His tenure was marked by bitter conflict with the union, culminating in the death of two striking workers on May 3, 1886, the event which precipitated the

Haymarket affair The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident, was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886 at Haymarket Square (C ...

Life and career

McCormick was the eldest child of inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick Sr. and philanthropist Nancy Fowler. He was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on May 16, 1859. McCormick married Harriet Bradley Hammond on March 5, 1889. They had three children – Cyrus Hall McCormick III was born September 22, 1890; Elizabeth McCormick was born July 12, 1892; and Gordon McCormick was born June 21, 1894. He was president of the

from 1884 to 1902. In 1885, striking workers forced McCormick to restore a 15 percent wage cut. From then on, McCormick was set on breaking the union. He replaced iron molders, skilled workers who had led the 1885 walkout, with new machinery. In February 1886, he locked out workers, replacing them with non-union labor (“scabs”), under the protection of 300 armed Pinkertons. On May 3, 1886, a clash occurred between striking workers and scabs. The police fired into the crowd of unarmed workers, wounding many and killing two. It was in response to this incident, that the Haymarket meeting of May 4, 1886 was called. McCormick was later president of the merged

International Harvester Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...

starting in 1902. He was also a member of the

Jekyll Island Club The Jekyll Island Club was a private club on Jekyll Island, on Georgia's Atlantic coast. It was founded in 1886 when members of an incorporated hunting and recreational club purchased the island for $125,000 (about $3.1 million in 2017) from Jo ...

(aka The Millionaires Club) on

Jekyll Island, Georgia Jekyll Island is an island located in Glynn County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is one of the Sea Islands and one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The island is owned by the State of Georgia and run by a self-s ...

. McCormick's daughter, Elizabeth, died at the age of twelve; in 1908, her parents established the Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund, which supported child health and welfare efforts in Chicago and nationwide for many years. Physician and public health advocate Caroline Hedger worked for the fund from 1920 to 1942.https://www.cct.org/2019/07/a-daughters-legacy-a-lasting-impact-for-chicago-children/ "A Daughter's Legacy, A Lasting Impact for Chicago Children", Lorca Jolene, July 16, 2019, Chicago Community Trust On June 2, 1936, McCormick died in Chicago and was buried at

Graceland Cemetery Graceland Cemetery is a large historic garden cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Irving Park R ...

. His brother

Harold Fowler McCormick Harold Fowler McCormick (May 2, 1872 – October 16, 1941) was an American businessman. He was chairman of the board of International Harvester Company and a member of the McCormick family. Through his first wife, Edith Rockefeller, he became a ...

was the husband of Edith Rockefeller. McCormick's son Cyrus Hall McCormick III wrote a history of his grandfather's life and times, his company, and the successor company.

Family tree

References

* Aldrich, Lisa J. ''Cyrus McCormick and the mechanical reaper'' (2002), for middle schools
online
* Casson, Herbert. ''Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work'' (1909) popular biograph
online
* McCormick III, Cyrus Hall. ''The Century of the Reaper'' (1933), popular histor
online
* Messer-Kruse, Timothy. "Strike or anarchist plot? The McCormick riot of 1886 reconsidered" ''Labor History,'' (2011) 52(4), 483–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2011.632552 * Rosenberg, Chaim M. ''The International Harvester Company: A History of the Founding Families and Their Machines'' (McFarland, 2019)
online
popular history with emphasis on family ties.. * * Steward, John, and Arthur Pound. ''The Reaper: A History of the Efforts of Those Who Justly May Be Said to Have Made Bread Cheap'' (New York: Greenberg, 1931), popular. * Thwaites, Reuben Gold. ''Cyrus Hall McCormick and the reaper'' (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1909
online
brief scholarly history * Winder, Gordon M. "A trans-national machine on the world stage: representing McCormick's reaper through world's fairs, 1851–1902" ''Journal of Historical Geography'' (2007) 33#2 pp.352-376.

External links

McCormick Family Financial Records
a
the Newberry Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Cyrus Jr. 1859 births 1936 deaths McCormick family 19th-century American businesspeople Philanthropists from Illinois Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago)

Life and career

Family tree

See also

References

Further reading

External links