John Henry Manny
| John Henry Manny | |
|---|---|
John Henry Manny
|
|
| Born |
November 28, 1825 Amsterdam, New York |
| Died | January 31, 1856 Rockford, Illinois |
| Cause of death | tuberculosis |
| Resting place |
Greenwood Cemetery Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois |
| Occupation | Inventor |
| Known for | Manny Reaper |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Dorr (m. 1853–56) |
John Henry Manny (1825–1856) was the inventor of the Manny Reaper, one of various makes of reaper used to harvest grain in the 19th century. Cyrus McCormick III, in his Century of the Reaper, called Manny "the most brilliant and successful of all [Cyrus McCormick I's] competitors," a field of many brilliant people.
John Henry Manny was born November 28, 1825 in Amsterdam, New York. His father was Pells Manny and mother was Sarah Swart. Siblings included Josiah Manny, Eliza Manny, Rebecca Ann Manny, and Gabriel Manny. He moved to Waddams Township in Stephenson County, Illinois, in the early 1850s. The Mannys visited George Esterly (1809–1893) who was manufacturing some of the first mechanical grain harvesting machines in Heart Prairie, near modern-day Janesville Wisconsin a short distance to the north. Manny helped in the shop to produce one and brought it back with him.
Manny married Mary Dorr in 1853, and by the fall of 1853 moved to Rockford, Illinois. There he could have more reapers manufactured by the firm Blinn & Emerson, and have them transported on the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad line. In 1854 he formed J.H. Manny & Company with investors Wait and Sylvester Talcott. In the summer of 1854 Jess Blinn and Ralph Emerson (1831–1914) joined the company.
John Henry Manny laid the foundation for the reaper business of Rockford, IL. At the time of the invention of his reaper, he was farming with his father, Pells Manny, in Waddams Township, Stephenson County, Illinois, near McConnell, Illinois. They had a large crop of wheat and wanted a machine to cut it. The Manny's had heard that George Esterly, of Wisconsin, was making machines that would harvest grain. They visited Esterly to buy one of his machines but found that he would probably not be able to get one finished for them in time for their harvest. John H. Manny remained with Esterly at his shop to help him complete the "header", the part with the cutter bar. It was this insight into the construction of harvesting machinery that inspired the Manny family to develop their own reaper. Subsequently the Manny's conceived the idea of creating a number of additional reapers that were to be sold to neighboring farmers.
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