Robert McCormick Jr. was the youngest son of Robert and Martha (Sanderson) McCormick, was born and died at "Walnut Grove, " Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was the grandson of Thomas McCormick who emigrated from Ulster in 1734, and settled first in Lancaster County and later in Cumberland County, Pa. , where he made a name for himself as a weaver and an Indian fighter. The elder Robert McCormick settled in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, in 1755. In July 1779, he moved to the Valley of Virginia and purchased a tract of land lying partly in Rockbridge and partly in Augusta County, which he called "Walnut Grove. " Later he fought in the Revolution.
Education
Robert was educated in a private school in the neighborhood and instructed at home in the strictest tenets of the "Seceder" branch of the Presbyterian church.
Career
Although interested in music and astronomy, McCormick chiefly distinguished himself by the invention of a number of agricultural implements, designed to lighten the labor of the husbandman. In 1830 and 1831, he invented and took out patents on a hemp brake, gristmill, and a hydraulic machine. About this time he also invented a blacksmith bellows. In 1834, he produced a threshing machine. Although he built a number of his various machines in the blacksmith shop at "Walnut Grove" and sold them to the farmers and planters in the vicinity, his inventions never became commercially valuable. He was interested in too many devices and lacked the patience and perseverance to develop any of them to the point of practicality.
Most important perhaps were his attempts to devise a power implement for reaping grain, extending intermittently over more than twenty years. His first reaping machine is said to have been produced as early as 1809 and in the course of years he experimented with several different types of apparatus. The most ingenious of these was a machine, completed in 1831, which consisted of a number of sickles projecting horizontally from a wooden bar. On top of the bar were placed an equal number of vertical cylinders with long spikes. In action the cylinders were designed to revolve, the spikes thrusting the grain across the edges of the sickles. The continued revolutions of the cylinders, aided by a series of leather bands studded with nails, discharged the severed grain to one side in swath. This implement cut straight grain fairly well but proved useless where the stalks were inclined or fallen and the discharging apparatus threw the grain to one side in a tangled mass. Discouraged, McCormick thereupon abandoned the problem. If he accomplished nothing else, however, his efforts served as the inspiration for one of the world's great inventions, the reaper, devised that same year by his son, Cyrus Hall McCormick. In 1836, Robert and Cyrus built an iron furnace which they called Cotopaxi. Following the panic of 1837 the enterprise failed and threw Robert heavily into debt. In this crisis Cyrus McCormick turned to his reaper and Robert McCormick began to manufacture it on a contract basis. By 1845, he had won back his financial independence. The next year he caught a severe cold which resulted in his death a few months later.
Achievements
McCormick invented numerous devices including a version of the reaper which his eldest son Cyrus McCormick patented in 1834.
Personality
McCormick, who was medium in height, slight in physique, quiet and reserved in manner, and dreamy, displayed a wide range of interest. Mary Ann Hall was tall and robust, vivacious, possessed of great energy, and extremely practical. Both were deeply religious and noted in the community for integrity of character.
Connections
On February 11, 1808, McCormick married Mary Ann Hall, daughter of Patrick Hall, who was also of Scotch-Irish descent. Among his children were William S. and Leander James McCormick, both of whom were associated with their elder brother in the development of the reaper.
Father:
Robert McCormick
1738 - 12 October 1818
Mother:
Martha Sanderson McCormick
1747 - 1804
Brother:
George Elliot McCormick
9 May 1771 - 25 April 1849
Brother:
Corp William McCormick
12 April 1776 - 17 April 1837
Brother:
James McCormick
7 January 1778 - 28 August 1839
Sister:
Elizabeth McCormick
Wife:
Mary Ann McChesney “Polly” Hall McCormick
24 June 1780 - 1 June 1853 (aged 72)
Daughter:
Susan J. McCormick
August 1, 1813 – June 27, 1826
Daughter:
Mary Caroline McCormick
April 18, 1817 – March 18, 1888
Daughter:
Amanda Joanna McCormick
September 17, 1822 – October 12, 1891
Son:
Leander James McCormick
February 8, 1819 – February 20, 1900
Leander was an American inventor, manufacturer, philanthropist, and businessman and a member of the McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia.
Son:
Cyrus Hall McCormick
February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884
Cyrus was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.
Son:
William Sanderson McCormick
November 2, 1815 – September 27, 1865
William was an American businessman who developed the company that became the major producer of agricultural equipment in the 19th century.
