Jerome Case
| Jerome Increase Case | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
December 11, 1819 Williamstown, New York |
| Died | December 22, 1891 (aged 72) Racine, Wisconsin |
| Known for | Case Corporation |
Jerome Increase Case (1819–1891) was an early American manufacturer of threshing machines. He founded the J.I. Case Company which has gone through many mergers and name changes to today's Case Corporation and raised champion race horses. He was a mayor of Racine, Wisconsin, and a member of the Wisconsin State Senate.
Jerome Increase Case was born December 11, 1819, in Williamstown in Oswego County, New York. His father was Caleb Case (1787–1874) and mother Deborah Jackson (1789–1833). He was one of seven children. Through his mother he claimed to be related to Andrew Jackson.
His father sold some primitive "ground hog" machines (imported from England) that helped speed up the separation of grain after it was harvested. In 1840, Jerome started a small business threshing his neighbors' crops with the horse-powered devices. In the summer of 1842, he bought six of the machines on credit and traveled first to Chicago by ship. On his way north to Rochester, Wisconsin he sold five and kept one for his own business. Through the winter he worked on improvements to the thresher, but the new model was not ready for the 1843 harvest. By May 1844 the new model which did a better job of fully separating the grain was working. Since Rochester did not have water power available, he moved to Racine, Wisconsin.
He first manufactured the machines in a small shop in Racine, and then built a three-story brick factory in 1847 on the Root River. A new vibrator process introduced in 1852 was so successful he was selling throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio by 1853. By 1855 the plant covered several acres, including a private boat dock on Lake Michigan. In 1856 he was elected mayor of Racine, declined the re-nomination the next year, but was elected again in 1858 and 1860. He often financed the machines with high interest rates. This worked until the panic of 1857 and unreliable state-issued paper money caused many customers to default. Case accepted animals, supplies, and land instead of cash. At the start of the American Civil War, farmers would often walk away from their debts to enlist, sometimes not returning.
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