Looking for John H. Manny

Living in the Land of Lincoln, my husband Keith and I are attuned to almost anything to do with Honest Abe. One such connection is through John H. Manny who was born in Amsterdam, New York in 1825. His family moved to near Freeport, in Illinois’s Stephenson County in 1836. This inventor worked with his father Pells Manny to improve farm implements in Waddams Township.

There is one of his cousin John P’s Manny’s reapers on display at the Stephenson County Historical Museum.

The museum offers a log cabin, arboretum, mansion and industrial and toy museum. We only had time to tour the industrial museum. We wanted to see the Manny Reaper on display.

This horse drawn machine cut wheat stalks, then pushed them off the back in piles. The bundles were then transferred to a threshing machine. In the early 1850’s, the Mannys visited George Esterly. They saw his mechanical grain machines near Janesville, Wisconsin. John Manny helped Esterly in the shop and eventually brought one of the machines back to Illinois with him.

John Manny’s improvement

By 1852, John H. (Henry) Manny improved the design making his own reaper.  Reference.org shares that after working with George Esterly, that, “Subsequently, the Mannys conceived the idea of creating a number of additional reapers that were to be sold to neighboring farmers.”

John H. Manny then secured a patent in 1851. In 1853, the family moved to Rockford, Illinois where they manufactured the reaper in the water power district. Rockford had the advantage of rail lines. John H. Manny partnered with Sylvester and Wait Talcott in 1854. Next, Jesse Blinn and Ralph Emerson Jr. were added as partners.

The reaper started gaining attention. Winning the Gold Medal for the best combined mower and reaper at a test in Geneva, New York, the reaper then went on a tour exhibiting at State Fairs. Winning a medal in the Paris Exposition in 1855, Prince Napoleon asked to be instructed in the reapers use.

The company improved their product and received more patents between 1851 and 1856.

The Lawsuit

The jubilant ride came to an end in 1844. Cyrus H. McCormick demanded Manny stop producing reapers. He sued the Manny company for over $400,000 of patent infringements. Abaraham Lincoln connection comes when he was originally hired because the trial was originally to be in Chicago. According to the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, “but his fellow defense attorneys Edwin M. Stanton and George Harding blocked his participation in the trial. The case was decided in favor of Manny & Co. in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois in January of 1856.”

The case had been moved to Cincinnati, and although he put together an argument, Lincoln’s defense was never used. Ironically, he later selected Stanton as his Secretary of War when he was President.

Mary Dorr Manny

Raised in Hoosick Falls, New York, Mary Dorr’s family was involved in farm implements. This mutual interest with John Manny drew his attention. The two were married in her grandparent’s mansion in 1852. She was involved with his business early on. She was with him when he moved to Rockford in 1853. They lived in a small white house in town. The stress of the trial brought by Cyrus McCormick took its toll on John H. Manny, and he died at the age of 31, January 31, 1856. He left Mary a widow at the age of 28.

Thanks to a change in Illinois law, Mary was allowed to run the Manny Reaper Works. Very unlike most women in her day, she held a position at the company until the mid 1900’s. The company was run under the guidance of the Talcott brothers and Ralph Emerson, who was a cousin to the famous poet, Ralph Waldo Emmerson. Eventually it was known as Talcott, Emerson Co.

McCormick still wasn’t done. He took the lawsuit to the supreme court after Manny’s death and lost again. The firm became Emerson-Brantingham in 1909. The company purchased Reeves & Co, merged with D.M. Osborne, and in 1928 was purchased by the J.I. Case Corporation.

Robert Tinker and his love for Mary Dorr Manny

Like both John and Mary Manny, Robert Tinker lived in New York, although he was born in modern day Hawaii. After leaving school at the age of 15 he began working in a bank. William Knowlton who worked at the Manny Reaper Co. was visiting his brother and met Robert. Impressed with the young man Robert soon joined the company in 1856 serving as a clerk. Through various positions, he got to know and fell in love with Mary Dorr Manny.

An artist, he traveled in Europe, and when he returned, he and Mary married in April of 1872. The couple lived in her mansion during the summer and moved into the beautiful Swiss cottage he built during the winter months. The cottage (really a rustic mansion) is a lovely home to tour. Robert and Mary and her father and two nieces lived happily in the cottage for many years. John Manny died young, but his agricultural inventions live on, and his memory is included in items at the Tinker Swiss Cottage.

After we got home, Keith still continued in his John Manny research. He found a Manny wrench and added it to his collection.

Have you been to any of these places? Share your stories, I’d love to hear!