Figure 3. — Reconstructions oi- John Deere's 1837 

 Plow. For a discussion of the position and attachment 

 of the handles see p. 24. (Deere & Company photo.) 



Andrns contributed money and business experi- 

 ence. There is no indication that they were formally 

 associated prior to the agreement of March 20, 1843. 

 An advertisement (it is quoted later) dated February 

 3, 1843, and appearing in the March 10, 1843, issue 

 of the Rock River Register, carries an announcement by 

 John Deere that he is ready to fill orders for plows, 

 which he then describes. There is no mention of 

 Andrus or of an Andrus and Deere firm. I am in- 

 clined by the evidence to the view that Deere worked 

 out his plow by himself, began to manufacture it in 

 small numbers, needed money to enlarge and expand 

 his operations, and went to the logical source of capital 

 in the community, Leonard Andrus. 



In support of this vie^\• I quote a statement by Mr. 

 Burton F. Peek '" who has spent most of his life in 

 Deere & Company and who may now be the only 

 person living who knew John Deere: 



Andrus removed to Grand de Tour from some place in 

 New York [Rochester, though originally from Vermont]. 

 Some years later John Deere came along from Rutland, 

 Vermont leaving his family behind him. Whether Deere 

 ever heard of Andrus or Andrus of Deere no one knows. 



Having decided to remain in Grand de Tour, Deere sent 

 for his family asking my paternal grandfather, William Peek, 

 to bring them and also the Peek family out to Grand de 

 Tour. 'Fhis was done via covered wagon the journcx^ 

 occupying some si.\ weeks. My father, Henry C. Peek, 

 was then an infant age six weeks and Charles Deere, the 

 son of John, an infant of about the same age. Of course 

 these infants came along sleeping in the feed box of the 

 wagon. My grandfather "took up land'" adjacent to 

 Grand de Tour and John Deere continued in the manu- 

 facturing business. 



Incidentally, John Deere and William Peek were brothers- 

 in-law having married sisters and what I have said, and 

 much more that I might say to you, is based upon what I 

 have been told by my grandfather, by John Deere and by 

 others who had a part in the early history of the company. 

 So far as I know, I am the only living person who ever knew 

 or saw John Deere. . . . 



... I joined the Deere Company on October i, 1888, 

 at the age of 16 and retired on the 28th of .\pril. 1956 — 

 nearly 68 years. C. H. Deere was my great friend and bene- 

 factor. I was educated at his expense as a lawyer and 

 practiced for thirteen years. During this time I was his 

 pei-sonal attorney, I drew his will, was made trustee there- 

 under, and probably was more intimate with him than any 

 living person. I have seen and read the manuscript of an 

 early history of the company which he wrote, but never 

 published and there was nothing in it to indicate that .Andrus 

 had any part in the manufacture of the first successful steel 

 plow and it is my firm belief that he had no part other than 

 perhaps a friendly interest in it. 



THE FIRST PLOW 



Most writers describe Deere cutting a diamond- 

 shaped piece out of a broken steel mill saw. There is 

 usually no further identification of the type of saw 

 beyond the statement that it came from the Andrus 

 sawmill. Neil Clark, author of a brief biography of 

 John Deere, states that the diamond-shaped piece 

 was cut out of a circular saw.'^ There is no evidence 

 given to support this. There are some powerful argu- 

 ments against it. The circular saw, especially of the 

 larger size, was probably not very common in .\merica 

 in the 1830's. Although an English patent for a 

 circular saw was issued in 1777 the first circular saw 

 in America is attributed to Benjamin Cuiumins of 

 Bentonsvillc, New York, about 1814.'' 



In a small, new, pioneering comnuuui\ u stiins 

 unlikely that the local sawmill would have been 

 equipped with the newer circular saw rather than the 

 familiar up and down saw which remained in use 



'2 Letter from Burton F. Peck to M. L. Putnam, December 

 18, 1957, in U. S. National Museum records under accession 



148904. 



P.APER 2: JOHN deere's STEEL PLOW 



13 Clark, op. cit. (footnote 7), p. 34. 



'< E. H. Knight, American mechanical dictionan; Boston, 1884, 

 vol. 3, p. 2033. 



19 



