Robert McCormick (Virginia inventor)


Robert McCormick Jr. 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 McCormick. Robert Jr. had five elder siblings: George, Martha, Elizabeth, William, and James.
McCormick's maternal grandparents were Scottish immigrants, George Sanderson and Catharine Sanderson. His paternal grandparents were Thomas and Elizabeth McCormick, Presbyterian immigrants born in County Londonderry and County Antrim, Ireland respectively who married in 1728 and settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1735.

Career

McCormick and his wife Polly 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. His wife Polly encouraged him to give it to their assertive and business-minded son Cyrus, who was able to improve and patent it in 1834 and establish the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company which led to the great wealth the family accumulated.

Personal life

On February 11, 1808, McCormick was married to Mary Ann McChesney "Polly" Hall, a daughter of Patrick Hall and Susan Hall, and was granted ownership of Walnut Grove, the family estate, in 1810. Together, Robert and Polly were the parents of eight children:
He died on July 4, 1846. He and his wife were buried in the cemetery of the Old Providence Stone Church just north of the estate.

Legacy

In 2002, Robert Jr. and his three surviving sons had a variety of wheat named after them, for "inventing, perfecting, manufacturing, and marketing of the mechanical grain reaper ushered in the era of modern agriculture and wrought one of the greatest advancements in agricultural history." McCormick is a soft red winter wheat developed and released in May 2002 by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.

Family tree