CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



McCormick was not proficient. The two men 

 were well suited as partners. Cyrus planned 

 the work in large outlines, and broke down the 

 obstacles that stood in the way; while William 

 added the details and supervised the carrying 

 out of the plan. Leander, who also held a 

 high place in the business in its earlier days, 

 withdrew from it later, and died in 1900. 



Until 1858 McCormick had thought himself 

 too busy to be married. But in that year he 

 met Miss Nettie Fowler, of New York, and 

 changed his mind. It was soon apparent that 

 his marriage was not to be in any sense a hin- 

 drance to his success, but rather the wisest act of 

 his life. Mrs. McCormick was a woman of 

 rare charm, and with a comprehension of busi- 

 ness affairs that was of the greatest possible value 

 to her husband. She was at all times in the 

 closest touch with his purposes. By her advice 

 he introduced many economies at the factory, 

 and rebuilt the works after the Great Fire of 

 1871. The precision of her memory, and the 

 grasp of her mind upon the multifarious details 

 of human nature and manufacturing, made her 



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