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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Cyrus McCormick Biography McCORMICK, Cyrus Hall, inventor, born in Walnut Grove, Virginia Feb. 15, 1809; died in Chicago, Illinois, May 13, 1884. He was the son of a farmer and received a common school education. Subsequently he worked on a farm and in a workshop, and in 1831 invented his reaper, which was patented in 1834. Being successful in placing his machine on the market, he moved to Chicago in 1847, where he erected vast harvester works. In 1859 he made a gift of $1,000 to the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, a Presbyterian institution, and later endowed a chair in Washington and Lee University, besides showing much liberality in promoting various enterprises. The entire contributions made by him and his heirs to benevolent purposes aggregate fully $1,000,000. He was shown many distinctions for his inventions, among them an official position in the Legion of Honor of France. See Harvesting Machinery. The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopędia, Vol. III (Kansas City: Bufton Book Co., 1909) 1065. |