Henry Ford Founder of the Ford Motor Company
Biography of Henry Ford
Early Life
Henry Ford founder of The Ford Motor Company was born on 30th July, 1863 on a farm located in Greenfield Township Michigan. His father named William Ford was from Ireland and his mother named Mary Ford was from Michigan. When he was of fifteen years of age his father gave him a pocket watch, in which he got his field of interest. He used to break the watches of his neighbors and friends so many times and also rejoined those parts. By doing that so many times he became a watch repairer.
When he was twenty years of age, he used to visit Episcopal Church by walking four miles every Sunday. He became very much upset when his mother died in 1876. His father wanted him to take interest in their family business which was farming but he had no interest in farming. On the contrary he hated farming business.
Escaping
He wanted to develop his carrier in mechanics. But his father was compelling him to do farming. In that situation he decided to escape from home in 1879. In that year, he left his home for going to Detroit and join James F. Flower & Bros., as an apprentice. He joined them and while working he also continued his apprenticeship. After working with them he also joined the Detroit Dry Dock Co. as an apprentice.
Return to Home
After completing his training he returned back to Dearborn in 1882. He started working on the farm this time, but he didn’t left his attachment with machines. On the farm he used to be an operator of steam engine. He became an expert as an operator of the Westinghouse portable steam engine. As he became very expert operator he came under the observation of Westinghouse. He was then hired as a service provider of steam engines by Westinghouse. He also studied at Goldsmith Bryant & Stratton Business College located in Detroit. He studied bookkeeping there.
Founder of Ford Motor Company
He became an engineer in 1891 at the Edison Illuminating Company. He was promoted to the designation of Chief Engineer in1893. He earned so much money from that job and started his own experimenting while continuing his job also. His experimentation succeeded and he formed a vehicle with the name Ford Quadricycle. He tested that on 4th June. He tried to improve his invention by the time.
The job which he was doing was in the company of Thomas Edison. He met Thomas Edison in a meeting of the company in 1896. In that meeting Thomas Edison encouraged his work and after getting encouragement he built his second car in 1898. After that he left the company to introduce his own company. He got financial backing from a lumber baron of Detroit named William H. Murphy. He founded a company on 5th August, 1899 and named it the Detroit Automobile Company. As the company was newly born, it produced vehicles of low quality with higher prices. Because of this condition, company failed to develop any market share and shut downed in 1901’s January month.
But once the company was dissolved he tried to develop such a car which would eliminate the flaws of his previous company’s cars. For that purpose he got help from C. Harold Wills. On 30th November, 1901 he again formed another company with financial backing from the same persons in previous company. This time he founded company with name of the Henry Ford Company. In this company he worked as a chief engineer.
Ford Motor Company
The Ford Motor Company is a multinational company of the America in the field of automobile manufacturing. It’s headquarter is located in Dearborn, Michigan. This company manufactures markets and sales automobiles under the brand name of Ford. This company also manufactures luxury cars and these luxury cars are marketed under the brand name Lincoln.
Death
He felt ill in September 1945 and handed over the presidency to Henry Ford II, his grandson and got retirement. He died on 7th April, 1947 in Fair Lane, his Dearborn State at the age of 83 years. His funerals were held in Cathedral Church of St. Paul and public viewing at Greenfield Village in which 5000 attendees were present to pay regards for him. He was buried in Detroit’s Ford Cemetery. The cause of his death was announced as a cerebral hemorrhage.
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