Leander J. McCormick
| Leander James McCormick | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 8, 1819 Rockbridge County, Virginia |
| Died | February 20, 1900 (aged 81) Chicago |
| Occupation | Inventor, businessman and philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Henrietta Maria Hamilton |
| Children | Robert Hall McCormick II Elizabeth Maria McCormick Henrietta Laura McCormick Leander Hamilton McCormick |
| Parent(s) |
Robert McCormick, Jr. Mary Ann Hall |
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, he is regarded as one of the fathers of modern agriculture due to his part in the development of the McCormick Reaper and what became the International Harvester Company. He also owned and developed vast amounts of real estate in downtown Chicago and Lake Forest, Illinois. In 1885 he donated one of the world's largest telescopes to the University of Virginia.
Leander James McCormick was a member of the prominent McCormick family of Chicago. He was born February 8, 1819 in Rockbridge County, Virginia on February 8, 1819 to Robert McCormick, Jr. (1780–1846) and Mary Ann "Polly" Hall (1780–1853). He was the fourth of five sons and was raised at the family homestead known as Walnut Grove, near Raphine in Rockbridge County, in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His elder brother Robert Hall McCormick died as a teenager, and his younger brother John Prestly McCormick also died as a young adult. His father invented agricultural machines including the mechanical reaper, for which Leander's eldest brother Cyrus McCormick received the patent in 1834. Leander eventually developed multiple improvements to the reaper and received patents for two of them, with the remainder being patented by his brother Cyrus. At age 26, McCormick married Henrietta Maria Hamilton on her parents' homestead, Locust Hill, in Rockbridge County on October 22, 1845. The following year their father Robert McCormick, Jr. died. Leander had a third share of the reaper business, which amounted to 75 machines in 1846.
In 1847 Leander helped Cyrus set up a factory in Cincinnati, Ohio that produced 100 machines. In fall 1848 he moved to Chicago with his wife and infant son to join Cyrus in setting up an even larger factory. Another older brother William Sanderson McCormick joined in 1850 in a business in run by Cyrus to manufacture reapers and sell them across the midwestern United States. They created what eventually became the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, with Leander taking over management of the manufacturing department, which he controlled for the next 30 years. By 1870, the McCormicks were one of the wealthiest families in the United States.
...
Wikipedia