Relatives See McCormick family Name Robert McCormick | Role Inventor Parents Martha Sanderson | |
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Born June 8, 1780 ( 1780-06-08 ) Rockbridge County, Virginia Spouse(s) Mary Ann Hall
(m. 1808—1846; his death) Died July 4, 1846, Augusta, West Virginia, United States Children Cyrus McCormick, Leander J. McCormick, William Sanderson McCormick Grandchildren Harold Fowler McCormick, Cyrus McCormick, Jr. Great grandchildren Robert R. McCormick, Joseph M. McCormick, Chauncey McCormick Similar People Cyrus McCormick, Leander J McCormick, Harold Fowler McCormick, William Grigsby McCormick, Robert Sanderson McCormick | ||
Robert McCormick, Jr. (June 8, 1780 – July 4, 1846) was an American inventor, who invented numerous devices including a version of the reaper which his eldest son Cyrus McCormick patented in 1834. Although he lived his life in rural Virginia, he was patriarch of the McCormick family that became influential throughout the world, especially in large cities such as Chicago and New York City.
Biography
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 to American Revolutionary War veteran Robert McCormick Sr. (1738 – October 12, 1818) and Martha Sanderson (1747–1804). Martha's parents were Scottish immigrants George Sanderson and Catharine Ross. Robert Sr.'s father Thomas McCormick (1702–1762) was a Scotch-Irish immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania in 1735 and married Elizabeth Carruth (May 4, 1705 – 1766) in 1728. Robert Jr. had five elder siblings: George (1771–1849), Martha (1773–?), Elizabeth (1774–?), William (1776–1837), and James McCormick (1778–1839).
On February 11, 1808 Robert Jr. married Mary Ann "Polly" Hall (1780– June 1, 1853), a daughter of Patrick Hall and Susan McChesney, and was granted ownership of Walnut Grove in 1810. They had eight children:
- Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809–1884), who moved to Chicago and established the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company
- Robert Hall McCormick (May 24, 1810 – June 29, 1826)
- Susan J. McCormick was (August 1, 1813 – June 27, 1826)
- William Sanderson McCormick (1815–1865), who joined Cyrus in Chicago, married Mary Ann Grigsby on July 11, 1848.
- Mary Caroline McCormick (April 18, 1817 – March 18, 1888), married Reverend James Shields IV on May 11, 1847
- Leander James McCormick (1819–1900), who also joined Cyrus in Chicago, married Henrietta Maria Hamilton on October 22, 1845.
- John Prestly McCormick (November 8, 1820 – September 4, 1849)
- Amanda Joanna McCormick (September 17, 1822 – October 12, 1891), married Hugh Adams on May 8, 1845.
Robert, Jr. and 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. He was encouraged by Polly to give it to their assertive and business-minded son Cyrus, who was able to improve and patent it in 1834. 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.
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 [which] ushered in the era of modern agriculture and wrought one of the greatest advancements in agricultural history." McCormick is a soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) developed and released in May 2002 by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.