Robert McCormick

Robert McCormick Jr. (June 8, 1780 – July 4, 1846) was an American inventor who invented numerous devices including a version of the reaper. His eldest son Cyrus McCormick patented this in 1834 and it became the foundation of the International Harvester Company. Robert was also the patriarch of the McCormick family that became influential throughout the world, especially in large cities such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Early life McCormick was born June 8, 1780, on the family estate of Walnut Grove in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His parents were Revolutionary War veteran Robert McCormick Sr. and Martha (née Sanderson) McCormick. Robert Jr. had five elder siblings: George, Martha, Elizabeth, William, and James.

Career McCormick and his wife Mary raised their eight children on the farm who grew up helping in the shop and the mill. He frequently busied himself with small gadgets and inventions around the farm. By 1809, McCormick had constructed a partially completed reaper. He eventually decided to formalize some of his work when he applied for a patent in 1830 for a "hemp-break", a device for breaking hemp and flax. He also produced a threshing machine, a clover sheller of stone, a blacksmith's bellows and a hill-side plow.

By 1831, he had completed a reaper. and was granted ownership of Walnut Grove, the family estate, in 1810. Together, Robert and Polly were the parents of eight children:

Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809–1884), who moved to Chicago and married Nettie Fowler in 1858. John Prestly McCormick (1820–1849).

Family tree